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OLD BOSTON 
DAYS & WAYS 





















































































































Copyright, 1903, by William Sumner Appleton 
MRS, RICHARD DERBY AS ST. CECILIA. 

Frontispiece 






OLD BOSTON 
DAYS & WAYS 

FROM THE DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION 
UNTIL THE TOWN BECAME A CITY 


BY 


MARY CAROLINE CRAWFORD 

( V 

AUTHOR OF “ ST. BOTOLPH'S TOWN," " AMONG OLD NEW ENGLAND 
INNS,” “OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCHES,” ETC. 


With Numerous Illustrations 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
1924 



Copyright 1909, 192A, 

By Little, Brown, and Company. 

All rights reserved 


Printed in the United States of America 


OCT 18 *24 

©Cl A 808395 
"vA{? f 


PREFACE 


More and more, as time goes by, Boston is 
bound to become a Mecca not only for all good 
Americans but for visitors from abroad. For 
Boston is full to the brim of unique traditions 
and rich associations; and any city which has 
rounded out nearly three hundred years of life 
must, in the very nature of things, possess great 
human interest! 

Unfortunately, however, in these swift-moving 
days, old buildings and memorials of an earlier 
age disappear — often almost over night, even 
in a city like Boston, which certainly means to 
cherish its traditions. Since this book was 
first issued, fifteen years ago, there have been a 
number of changes in the old town, and this 
fact renders all the more valuable and important 
the preservation of the illustrations with which 
the publishers so generously supplied the work 
when it originally appeared. 

I am particularly glad of the opportunity to 
bring out a new and revised edition of the book, 
which has been for some time now out of print 


IV 


PREFACE 


— and which is, I think, the only single volume 
covering carefully from original sources the 
one hundred years of Boston’s life as a town — 
because I cherish the hope that the perusal of 
these pages may make real to the generation 
of readers which has grown up since the work 
was originally issued, the events here recorded. 
I recall that it was writing about those events 
which first made this period of our history real 
to me! 

Moreover, it is only as Bostonians of to-day 
come to realize the glory of their heritage and 
strive intelligently to preserve, in the settle¬ 
ment founded in 1630, by John Winthrop and 
his Puritan followers, the ideals those high- 
minded and self-sacrificing folk brought with 
them from the old world, that this Boston of 
ours can hope to live vitally. None of us, I 
take it, wish the Boston of the twentieth cen¬ 
tury to be merelv a museum. 

M. C. C. 

65 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston 
September, 1924 


FOREWORD 


Almost of necessity a town is a different 
thing, and has a social life quite distinct, from 
a city. On its political side it is endowed with 
color and individuality, from the very fact 
that its humblest inhabitant may, at town meet¬ 
ing, raise his voice to oppose the motion of the 
richest and most renowned man in the com¬ 
munity. And, on the social side, it possesses 
a simplicity of interests, a delightful neighborli¬ 
ness, and a quality of charming intimacy which 
may never be claimed by a city. 

So, in this book, — which takes up where 
my “ St. Botolph’s Tow r n ” dropped it, the 
story of Boston’s share in the struggle for in¬ 
dependence, — I have stopped just short of 
the time when we blossomed into a munici¬ 
pality and indulged in a mayor and aldermen. 
The end of Boston’s life as a town seemed to 
me really the end of an era and I thought I could 
paint a better picture of life and manners here, 
during the period which followed the Revolution, 
if I did not venture far into the history of the 
nineteenth century. 


VI 


FOREWORD 


Besides, the niche that I have endeavored 
to fill in this book has been curiously vacant 
heretofore. No single volume happens to have 
covered intensively, so to speak, that very in¬ 
teresting formative period when the peculiar 
genius of Boston was beginning to find itself 
in art, in politics, and in civic life. Character¬ 
istically, I have passed lightly over the politics 
and have dealt with the personal rather than 
with the technical side of the arts. I am so 
incorrigibly of the opinion that the people 
of a period are its history! 

My warm thanks are due to the Houghton 
Mifflin Company for their courtesy in permitting 
the quotations credited to Mr. James K. Hos- 
mer’s “ Life of Samuel Adams/’ and to Mr. 
Harold Murdock’s “ Earl Percy’s Dinner 
Table ”; thanks I give also to Mr. Howard W. 
Spurr for his kindness in allowing extracts 
from Goss’s “ Life of Paul Revere,” to Mr. 
Charles Knowles Bolton, of the Boston Athen¬ 
aeum, for his personal helpfulness and for his 
generous permission to draw upon the rich 
illustrative material in the possession of the 
library, to Mr. Louis A. Holman, to Mrs. James 
A. Garland, who has helped me greatly in the 
Tudor data and pictures, to Mr. William Sumner 
Appleton, who has cooperated to the end that 
the lovely portrait of Mrs. Richard Derby might 
appear in the book, to Mr. William B. Clarke, 


FOREWORD 


vii 


for his service in connection with Revere’s 
lantern-hanger, and to the New England Maga¬ 
zine, whose publishers have kindly placed at my 
disposal a wealth of rare information about 
old Boston. 

The works which have been consulted in the 
preparation of this volume are many more than 
could be named here, and credit to them is, for 
the most part, given in the text. But my debt 
to the invaluable “ Memorial History of Bos¬ 
ton ” is so great that I must acknowledge it 
here as well as there. I heartily thank also the 
many custodians and collectors who have helped 
me in my browsings among those contempo¬ 
rary newspapers and documents, without which 
no history of this period could be written, but 
for which, lacking the kindly aid of specialists, 
one would so often search libraries and book¬ 
shops in vain. m. c. c. 

Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1909. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

Foreword .v 

I. The Master of the Puppets .... 1 

II. The Challenge to the Crown ... 15 

III. Two English Champions of the Dawning 

Republic.30 

IV. When Earl Percy Lived Opposite the 

Common.40 

V. The Sprightly Chronicles of John Andrews 65 

VI. The Messenger of the Revolution . . 108 

VII. When Faneuil Hall Was a Playhouse . . 142 

VIII. A Painter of Fair Women.190 

IX. John Hancock and His Dorothy . . 215 

X. The Man of the Town Meeting . . . 251 

XI. In the Reign of a Republican “ King ” 269 

XII. An Eighteenth Century Aeronaut . . 297 

XIII. The Beginnings of Literature and Music . 310 

XIV. Some Famous French Visitors to the Town 336 

XV. Two Heroes of Peace.380 

XVI. Social Life in the Transition Period . .- 401 

XVII. Early Boston Theatres and Their Stars . 419 

Index.459 








LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jail Past plates 


Mrs. Richard Derby as St. Cecilia . 

From the painting by Copley, owned by William 
Sumner Appleton. _ ^ 

Paul Revere’s Engraving of the Boston 

Massacre. 

From an original copy in the possession of the 
Bostonian Society. 

George III. 

From the painting by Reynolds. 

Lord North. 

From the painting by R. Dance. 

Charles James Fox. 

From the engraving by J. W. Cook, after the 
painting by Reynolds. 

William Pitt. 

After the painting by Gainsborough. 

General Gage. 

Hugh, Earl Percy. 

John Hancock. 

From the painting by Copley in the Museum of 
Fine Arts, Boston. 

Dr. Warren. 

From the engraving by H. W. Smith, after the 
painting by Copley. 

Paul Revere. 

Mrs. Revere. 

After the painting by Stuart. 

The Old North Church, in Which Pulling 

Hung the Lanterns. 

The Room Occupied by Hancock and Adams 
on the Night of Paul Revere’s Ride 


Frontispiece 

Facing Page 20 

“ “ 21 

“ “ 21 

“ “ 32 

“ “ 32 

“ “ 33 

“ “ 33 

“ “ 56 

“ “ 56 


114 

114 


115 

138 


XL 



Xll 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Old Kitchen of the Clark House . 

The Old Belfry, Lexington, from which 
Kang Out the Alarm, April 19, 1775 

General Howe . 

General Burgoyne. 

Boston in 1774, from Dorchester Heights . 
Copps Hill Burying Ground .... 

John Singleton Copley. 

From the painting by the artist, now in the 
possession of Gardiner Greene Hammond. 

John Quincy Adams. 

From the painting by Copley in the Museum of 
Fine Arts, Boston. 

Abigail Bromfield. 

From the painting by Copley, now in the posses¬ 
sion of Henry B. Cabot. 

Elkanah Watson. 

After a painting done in England by Copley. 
Norman’s Map of Boston in 1806 . 


Facing Page 138 


a 

« 

<4 

44 

44 

44 


139 

152 

152 

188 

189 

204 


“ 205 


“ 205 

“ 310 
“ 211 


From the only existing copy, now in the Boston 
Public Library. 

Dorothy Quincy Hancock .... 
From the painting by Copley, owned by Miss Anne 
R. Bowen and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, 
Boston. 

Parlor of the Dorothy Q. House, Quincy . 
The Washington Elm, Cambridge . 

Concord Church, in which the Provincial 
Congress Held Its Sessions 
Samuel Adams ....... 

From the painting in the Museum of Fine Arts, 
Boston. 

The Reading of the Declaration of Inde- 


“ 218 


“ « 219 

« « 226 

“ “ 226 

« « 270 


PENDENCE AT THE OLD STATE HOUSE, BOS¬ 
TON . 

Prayer Book Revised for Use in the New 

Republic. 

From the original in Christ Church, Boston. 
Tontine Crescent . . . . 

The first block built in Boston, on old Franklin 
Street. 

Gardiner-Greene House, the Boston Home 
of Madam Haley .... 

Dr. John Jeffries, Aeronaut ... 

After a painting by I. Russell. 


“ 271 

“ 280 
“ 281 

“ 294 
“ 298 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


xiii 


French Monument Commemorating Dr. Jef¬ 
fries’ Successful Passage of the English 
Channel in a Balloon .... 
Boston in 1802, from the South Boston 

Bridge. 

Mrs. Mercy Warren. 

From the painting by Copley in the possession 
of Mr. Winslow Warren. 

Phillis Wheatley. 

John Adams. 

Abigail Adams ....... 

From the painting by Stuart. 

Oliver Holden and the Organ upon which 
He Harmonized “ Coronation ” 

The Hancock Mansion, which Stood on 
State House Hill Opposite the Common 
Sir John Temple, First British Consul in 

Boston. 

From the painting by Copley. 

Lady Temple (Elizabeth Bowdoin) 

From the painting by Copley. 

Marquis de Lafayette, from a Contempo¬ 
rary Engraving ...... 

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord . 
From the painting by F. Gerard. 

Jerome Bonaparte. 

Frederic Tudor, the Ice-Pioneer . 

From the painting by Alexander, in the posses¬ 
sion of Mrs. Frederic Tudor. 

Mrs. Frederic Tudor, born Fenno . 

From a painting by Samuel Lawrence, in the pos¬ 
session of Mrs. Frederic Tudor. 

Charles Jones Fenno. 

From a miniature in the possession of Mrs. 
Frederic Tudor. 

Rebecca Gratz (Scott’s Rebecca) . 

From a miniature in the possession of Mrs. 
» Frederic Tudor. 

Mrs. Governor Bowdoin. 

From the painting by Robert Feke in the posses¬ 
sion of Bowdoin Museum of Fine Arts, Bowdoin 
College. 

The First Mrs. Harrtson Gray Otis 
After the painting by Malbone. 

Boston Common ...... 

From a drawing by Hammet Billings. 


Facing Page 298 

“ “ 299 

“ “ 324 


(« 

M 

«< 


* 324 
“ 325 
“ 325 


C( 


“ 334 


u 


“ 335 


“ 346 
“ 346 


« 

u 


u 

u 


347 

388 


<C 

« 


388 

389 


“ 44 389 


“ “ 398 


“ « 398 


“ 399 


M 


u 


“ 399 

“ 404 



XIV 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Beacon Hill and Its Monument . 

From a contemporary drawing by J. R. Smith. 
State Street One Hundred Years Ago 
The Haymarket Theatre .... 
From a water-color once owned by John How¬ 
ard Payne, now in the Boston Public Library. 
The Old South Meeting House, about 1800 
The Mother of Edgar Allan Poe 
From a miniature. 

Mrs. Rowson. 

Engraved by H. W. Smith from a miniature 
still in the possession of the family. 


Facing Page 405 

“ “ 416 

" “ 417 


“ 436 

“ 437 

“ 437 


Ullustrations m tfje &eit 


The Liberty Tree. Page 13 

The Castle (Fort Independence).“ 16 

The Suffolk Resolves House, Milton . . “ 41 

Interior of the Old South Church . . . “ 58 

The Old Powder House, Somerville . . . “ 83 

Military Headquarters of General Gage . . “ 86 

Province House, where General Gage Lived while 

in Boston.“92 

The Old West Church, whose Service Was Dis¬ 
turbed by British Soldiers. The Building is now 
used as a Branch Public Library . . . “ 99 

Paul Revere House after Restoration . . . “ 109 

The Rescinders. Engraved by Paul Revere . . “112 

The Green Dragon Tavern. “120 

The Restored Hancock-Clark House, Lexington . “ 133 

Statue of Colonel William Prescott, Bunker Hill “ 145 

Faneuil Hall. “155 

Stone in Copps Hill Burying Ground Used as a Tar¬ 
get by British Soldiers. “174 

Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia.“ 258 

Old House in Charlestown where Oliver Holden 

Lived and Wrote “Coronation” “ 333 

A Westerly View of the Colleges in Cambridge . “ 365 

The Hancock Tavern, where Talleyrand Stayed 

while in Boston.“ 376 

Craigie House, Cambridge.“ 378 

Julien’s. “404 










LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv 

Interior of Kino’s Chapel. Page 408 

Park Street Church.“ 414 

The Boston Theatre on Federal Street . . . “ 430 

John Howard Payne as “Young Norval” . . . “ 441 

Play Bill of Wallack’s Appearance at the Federal 

Street Theatre.“ 452 



OLD BOSTON DAYS 
& WAYS 


CHAPTER I 

THE MASTER OF THE PUPPETS 

A N interesting essay might be written on 
the Scape-goats of History and in such 
a work a prominent place should be 
given to Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant-gov¬ 
ernor of Massachusetts in 1760 and throughout 
the most trying period, — from the point of 
view of a King’s man, — in the whole history 
of the colonies. Hutchinson was not at all a 
bad sort of person. He was honest, sincere, 
devoted, and he did faithfully his duty as he 
saw it. His error was simply that which is being 
made all around us to-day by men high in au¬ 
thority — as he was: distrust of the common 
people. Of course it is true, as James K. Hosmer 
has tersely said, that “ Hutchinson ought to 
have known how to choose better, sprung as 
he was from the best New England strain and 


2 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

nurtured from his cradle in the atmosphere of 
freedom.” But Hutchinson was the type of 
man who could not see beyond his own door- 
yard. And in that dooryard some very un¬ 
pleasant things had happened to him and his. 

Prejudice has so warped our judgment that 
most of us to-day credit Hutchinson with ad¬ 
vocacy of the Stamp Act, just as the mob who 
destroyed his beautiful house did. Yet, from 
the first, he believed and declared that the 
King had made a great mistake in instituting 
this measure in the colonies. But he was the 
sworn servant of the crown and he conceived 
it to be his sacred duty to oppose the acts of 
unlawfulness which were being perpetrated on 
all sides. In the first great “ strike ” of the Bos¬ 
tonians, — the refusal of the people to use 
stamped paper, — he took exactly the position 
that law-abiding citizens everywhere take to¬ 
day, i. e. he condemned, with all the strength 
which he possessed, outbreaks of “ mob vio¬ 
lence.” As a result he was credited with “ stand¬ 
ing for ” the particular measure involved, — 
and had to pay the price. 

While feeling about the Stamp Act was at 
fever heat a sermon preached against violence 
was interpreted by a half-drunken mob, who 
had heard only rumors of it, as urging them to 
resent the Act. Whereupon they literally tore 
to pieces the house of Thomas Hutchinson, the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 3 

outward and visible sign of Crown Authority 
in America. I have in a previous book 1 quoted 
entire the graphic letter written by Hutchinson 
to Richard Jackson on October 30, 1765, 
immediately after this disgraceful episode, and 
I challenge anyone, after reading what was 
done on that occasion, to declare without justi¬ 
fication Hutchinson’s firm conviction that the 
people of Boston stood in great need of author¬ 
itative government. 

What Hutchinson did not take into account, 
of course, was the power of such men as George 
Washington and Samuel Adams to inspire in 
the unruly individuals who swayed the turbu¬ 
lent mass a sense of dignity, of fair-dealing and 
of responsibility. It is indeed to the vitalizing 
influence of the man whom Hutchinson deri¬ 
sively termed, “ the master of the puppets,” 
that we of to-day owe chiefly that change of 
heart on the part of the Bostonians which made 
possible the effective resistance of the Revo¬ 
lution. 

Adams, “ the man of the town meeting,” 
as he has come to be generally called, is a char¬ 
acter whom one has to know well to estimate 
fairly. He certainly was overweeningly mas¬ 
terful at times and one frequently detects in 
him a Jesuitical tendency to justify the means 
by the end which it is not easy to square with 

*[See “ St. Botolph’s Town,” p. 351.] 


4 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

one’s idea of simple honesty. Moreover, his 
trembling hands and weak voice, — due to a 
certain paralytic affection, — make him not at 
all the imposing hero of swash-buckling ro¬ 
mance; there is indeed absolutely nothing of 
glamor in his personality. If, however, we put 
the emphasis upon the things the man did 
rather than upon the way he looked, and upon 
the cause for which he was laboring rather than 
upon the sometimes unworthy means he took 
to accomplish his purposes, we must admire 
him in spite of ourselves. Nor need we make 
a butt of Hutchinson in order to do this. Each 
was sui generis and while the lieutenant-governor, 
who lacked faith in the folk-mote, was spending 
his scant leisure hours collecting material for 
his valuable and wonderfully judicial works on 
New England history, Samuel Adams was mak¬ 
ing friends with the common people, — talking 
with them at their work and drinking flip with 
them at humble taverns after their work was 
done. 

With Samuel Adams it seems to have been 
scarcely a question of choice. To protest against 
sovereign authority, as opposed to the folk-mote, 
appears to have been the logical expression of 
the man’s own nature. There had been no 
encroachments to stir his blood to indignant 
protest when, at twenty-one, he chose for the 
subject of his master’s thesis at Harvard the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 5 

question: “ Whether it be lawful to resist the 
Supreme Magistrate, if the Commonwealth 
cannot otherwise be preserved,” and argued, 
in the presence of Governor Bernard and other 
dignitaries of the Crown, that such resistance 
would be the most natural thing in the world. 
Adams believed in the folk-mote, as he did in 
a Supreme Being. To defend the one was as 
natural to him as to reverence the other. To 
understand Samuel Adams we must, therefore, 
understand the Town Meeting. 

Gordon, a writer of the period, has this to 
say of the units which, at the time of the Revo¬ 
lution, made up Massachusetts: “Every town 
is an incorporated republic. The selectmen, 
by their own authority, or upon the application 
of a certain number of townsmen, issue a war¬ 
rant for the calling of a town meeting. The 
warrant mentions the business to be engaged in 
and no other can be legally executed. The in¬ 
habitants are warned to attend; and they that 
are present, though not a quarter or a tenth of the 
whole, have a right to proceed. They choose a 
president by the name of moderator, who reg¬ 
ulates the proceedings of the meeting. Each 
individual has an equal liberty of delivering his 
opinion, and is not liable to be silenced or brow¬ 
beaten by a richer or greater townsman than 
himself. Every freeman or freeholder gives 
his vote or not, and for or against as he pleases; 


6 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

and each vote weighs equally, whether that of 
the highest or lowest inhabitant.” . . . All 
the New England towns were on the same plan 
in general and, at this particular time, there 
were in Massachusetts (which then included 
Maine also) more than two hundred towns 
containing in all 210,000 white inhabitants. 

The town of towns among all these was of 
course Boston, which, though it had now lost 
the distinction of being the largest town in 
America, still remained the intellectual head 
of the country. Its common schools, in which 
Samuel Adams prepared for college,— and which 
he visited as a committeeman from 1753, —gave 
every child a good education; and Harvard 
was practically a Boston institution then as it is 
today. The ministry still continued to be the 
profession which attracted a number of the 
ablest intellects turned out by Harvard, and 
of these the best men were selected for Boston 
pulpits. But no minister stood out preeminent 
in politics now as in the time of the Mathers, for 
the merchants were fast coming to the fore and 
law was just beginning to be recognized as a 
profession worthy of an educated man. Samuel 
Adams was a maltster and, very likely, could 
have made a comfortable fortune for himself had 
he devoted to business the attention which he 
bestowed upon the pursuit of liberty for all 
men. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 7 

At the bottom of the social scale, in the Boston 
of that day, were the negro slaves. The columns 
of the newspapers contain many advertisements 
of slaves for sale and of runaways sought by their 
masters. But these slaves were, most of them, 
family servants whose rights were carefully 
guarded and, soon after the Revolution, slavery 
became extinguished in Massachusetts. Few 
of the negroes were workmen at trades. Labor 
therefore was brought into no disrepute by their 
presence, and of all the classes in the com¬ 
munity the men who worked with their hands 
were, in many ways, the most interesting, the 
most virile. The caulkers were bold politi¬ 
cians, and the ropewalk men were always to 
the fore when there was a redcoat to be harried 
or a gathering at the Liberty Tree to be sus¬ 
tained by their vigorous presence. These men 
it was who, by the efficient way in which they 
did their day’s work, enabled John Hancock 
and his kind to flourish and amass wealth. 
Copley, with his artist’s insight, understood 
this very well, and when he painted a merchant 
prince, sitting in a carved chair with a chart of 
the distant seas spread out on the table before 
him, he very often gave a glimpse through the 
window of a busy wharf or a full-rigged ship, 
with its hint of sinewy men enlisted for hard, 
capable service. As a result of their work he 
seemed to say, these merchant princes can be 


8 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


painted in velvet breeches, silk stockings, and 
finely plaited linen stocks. 

It was Boston’s commercial prosperity which 
made possible the social life thus described by 
Bennett, an English visitor whom Scudder 
quotes: “ Every afternoon, after drinking tea, 
the gentlemen and ladies walk in the Mall, and 
from thence adjourn to one another’s houses 
to spend the evening, — those that are not dis¬ 
posed to attend the evening lectures; which 
they may do, if they please, six nights in seven 
the year round. What they call the Mall is a 
walk on a fine green or common adjoining to 
the south-west side of the town. It is near 
half a mile over with two rows of young trees 
planted opposite to each other with a fine foot¬ 
way between, in imitation of St. James Park; 
and part of the bay of the sea which encircles 
the town, taking its course along the north-west 
side of the Common, — by which it is bounded 
on the one side and the country on the other, — 
forms a beautiful canal in view of the walk. 

“Their rural diversions are chiefly shooting 
and fishing. For the former the woods afford 
them plenty of game; and the rivers and ponds 
with which this country abounds yield them 
great plenty as well as variety of fine fish. The 
government being in the hands of dissenters they 
don’t admit of plays or music-houses; but of 
late they have set up an assembly to which 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 9 

some of the ladies resort. But notwithstanding 
plays and such like diversions do not obtain 
here, they don’t seem to be dispirited nor moped 
for want of them, for both the ladies and gentle¬ 
men dress and appear as gay, in common, as 
courtiers in England on a coronation or birth¬ 
day. And the ladies here visit, drink tea, and 
indulge every little bit of gentility to the height 
of the mode, and neglect the affairs of their 
families with as good a grace as the finest ladies 
in London.” 

Of course it was rich folk whom the visitor 
has here depicted, people who had their por¬ 
traits painted, and attended such dinners as 
that given by Ralph Inman (on July 16, 1772) 
and thus described by John Rowe: “ I went early 
to Mr. Inman’s who made the genteelest En¬ 
tertainment I ever saw on acct of his son George 
taking his Degree yesterday — he had three 
hundred and forty seven Gentlemen & Ladies 
dined. Two hundred & Ten at one Table — 
amongst the Company The Govr & Family, 
the Lieut Governour & Family, The Admirall 
& Family & all the Remainder, Gentlemen 
& Ladies of Character & Reputation. The 
whole was conducted with much Ease & Pleas¬ 
ure & all Joyned in making each other Happy 
— such an entertainment has not been made 
in New England before on any Occasion.” 

The common people and their contact with 


10 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the social life of the time are more adequately 
represented in Bennett’s picture of an eighteenth 
century Sunday in Boston. “ Their observa¬ 
tion of the Sabbath (which they rather choose 
to call by the name of the Lord’s Day, whenso¬ 
ever they have occasion to mention it) is the strict¬ 
est kept that ever I saw anywhere. On that 
day no man, woman or child is permitted to go 
out of town on any pretence whatsoever; nor 
can any that are out of town come in on the 
Lord’s Day. The town being situated on a 
peninsula there is but one way out of it by land; 
which is over a narrow neck of land at the south 
end of the town, which is enclosed by a forti¬ 
fication and the gates shut by way of prevention. 
There is a ferry, indeed, at the north end of 
the town; but care is taken by way of preven¬ 
tion there also. 

“ And as they will by no means admit of 
trading on Sunday, so they are equally tenacious 
about preserving good order in the town on 
the Lord’s Day: and they will not suffer any 
one to walk down to the waterside, though some 
of the houses are adjoining to the several wharfs, 
nor, even in the hottest days of summer, will 
they admit of anyone to take air on the Common 
which lies contiguous to the town, as Moor- 
fields does to Finsbury. And if two or three 
people who meet one another in the street by 
accident stand talking together, if they do not 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 11 

disperse immediately on the first notice they 
are liable to fine and imprisonment. But that 
which is the most extraordinary thing is that 
they commence the Sabbath from the setting of 
the sun on the Saturday evening; and, in con¬ 
formity to that, all trade and business ceases, 
and every shop in the town is shut up: even a 
barber is finable for shaving after that time. 
Nor are any of the taverns permitted to enter¬ 
tain company; for in that case, not only the 
house, but every person found therein is fin¬ 
able. . . . 

“ As to their ministers, there is no compulsory 
tax upon the people for their support, but every¬ 
one contributes according to their inclination 
or ability; and it is collected in the following 
manner: every Sunday, in the afternoon, as 
soon as the sermon is ended, and before the 
singing of the last psalm, they have a vacant 
space of time, on which there are three or four 
men come along with long wooden boxes which 
they present to every pew for the reception of 
what every one is pleased to put in them. The 
first time I saw this method of collecting for 
the parson, it put me in mind of the waiters 
at Sadler’s Wells, who used to collect their money 
just before the beginning of the last act. But 
notwithstanding they thus collect the money 
for the maintenance of the clergy in general, 
yet they are not left to depend entirely upon 


12 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the uncertainty of what people shall happen to 
give, but have a certain sum paid them every 
Monday morning whether so much happens 
to be collected or not; and no one of them has 
less than a hundred pounds sterling per annum, 
which is a comfortable support in this part 
of the world.” 

The total population of the Boston thus 
described was now about sixteen thousand 
people. Practically all of these people were 
readers and there were newspapers to suit 
every stripe of political persuasion. The people 
may be said to have edited their papers them¬ 
selves, for instead of the impersonal articles 
of the modern journal the columns of the press 
were given over, — after the news and adver¬ 
tisements had been inserted, — to letters signed 
by such pseudonyms as “ A Chatterer,” “ Vin- 
dex,” “ Philantrop ” and so on. Adams con¬ 
tributed constantly to the Boston Gazette , whose 
bold proprietors, Edes and Gill, made their 
sheet the voice of the patriot sentiment and 
gave their office to be a rallying point for the 
popular leaders. “ Vindex ” is a favorite sig¬ 
nature of Adams about this time. The follow¬ 
ing letter, prepared for the anniversary of the 
repeal of the Stamp Act and printed in the 
Providence Gazette as well as in the publication 
of Edes and Gill, shows that Adams made no 
mistake in using his pen as a weapon: 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 13 

“ When I consider the corruption of Great 
Britain, their load of debt, — their intestine 
divisions, tumults and riots, — their scarcity 
of provisions and the contempt in which they 
are held by the nations about them; and when 
I consider, on the other hand, the State of the 



THE LIBERTY TREE 


American Colonies with Regard to the various 
Climates, Soils, Produce, rapid Population, 
joined to the virtue of the Inhabitants, — I 
cannot but think that the Conduct of Old Eng¬ 
land towards us may be permitted by Divine 
Wisdom, and ordained by the unsearchable 
providence of the Almighty for hastening a 
period dreadful to Great Britain. 

“ A Son of Liberty.” 








14 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

How inevitable it was that Adams should 
clash with Hutchinson we can easily see by 
placing alongside this extract a passage from 
a letter written not long after this, by the gov¬ 
ernor to a kinsman in Dublin, and pointing out 
that “ the supreme absolute legislative power 
must remain in England.” So, in the deepening 
strife, the Defender of Prerogative and the Man 
of the Town Meeting confront one another. 


CHAPTER II 


THE CHALLENGE TO THE CROWN 

S HIPS of war, some little time before this, 
had cast anchor in the harbor, and two 
regiments were now (1770) encamped on 
the Common further to ensure the execution 
of the royal will. The cause of the coming of 
the troops had been the defiance by the Massa¬ 
chusetts legislature of the king’s command to 
rescind a certain circular letter which had been 
sent out by Samuel Adams with the unmis¬ 
takable purpose of securing the cooperation 
of the other colonies in resistance to the Town- 
shend Acts. The king desired above all things 
to prevent any such union as this, and it oc¬ 
curred to him that he could do much to head 
it off by frightening the patriots with redcoats. 

But Parliament had its own quarrels with 
George III, and would not easily consent to 
this course. Accordingly, some excuse was 
needed to justify the unusual measure. The 
sacking of Hutchinson’s house was made so 
to serve. Then, in June, 1768, there was a 


16 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

slight conflict between townspeople and revenue 
officers, in which no one was hurt, but which 
led to a great town meeting in the Old South 
Meeting-House, and gave color to Governor 
Bernard’s complaint that Boston was a dis¬ 
orderly town, and that he was being intimidated 
and hindered in the execution of the laws there. 



THE CASTLE (FORT INDEPENDENCE) 


Yet the king’s real purpose in sending the 
troops was, as has been hinted, to force the 
people to observe the odious Townshend Acts. 
This being the case the arrival of the soldiers 
simply increased, of course, the danger of dis¬ 
turbance. Moreover, even according to British- 
made law, the men should have been lodged in 
Castle William down the harbor. The trouble 
which immediately ensued may be directly 
traced indeed to the infringement of this pro¬ 
vision. For encounters between the soldiery 




OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 17 

and the townpeople soon became frequent, 
and in September, 1769, James Otis was bru¬ 
tally assaulted at the British Coffee House 
by one of the commissioners of customs, aided 
and abetted by two or three army officers. 
Otis eventually became insane from being 
struck on the head in this affray, and the feeling 
of the people toward the soldiers naturally in¬ 
creased in bitterness. 

The Boston Massacre was, then, as inevitable 
as the explosion of a cask of powder into which 
a lighted match has been thrown. For a week 
there had been collisions here and there 
throughout the town, and the affair before 
the Custom-house on King Street, in the 
course of which seven of Captain Preston’s 
company fired into the crowd, killing five men 
and wounding several others, was but the 
logical climax to what had gone before. The 
slaughter of those five men, — one of whom 
was Crispus Attucks, now memorialized on 
Boston Common, — secured in a moment what 
a year and a half of decorous protest had failed 
to accomplish, — the withdrawal of the troops 
to the Castle. Hutchinson had to do this in 
spite of himself, for Samuel Adams, at the head 
of a committee just appointed by an immense 
mass-meeting in the Old South Church, came 
to him in the council chamber of the Town 
House and, in the name of three thousand free- 


18 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

men, commanded the removal of the soldiers. 
When the news of this move reached Parliament 
the two regiments thus summarily withdrawn 
at the request of a mere citizen were dubbed by 
Lord North the “ Sam Adams’s regiments.” 

Yet, so strong still was self-restraint and a 
sense of justice in the community, that Captain 
Preston and his men had a fair trial, their 
counsel being people of no less importance than 
John Adams and Josiah Quincy. Six of the 
soldiers, together with the captain, were ac¬ 
quitted; the tw r o men who were found guilty 
were branded on the hand. 

In the diary of Deacon John Tudor, — a rare 
and privately published work, — I have come 
upon what seems a contemporary and an emi¬ 
nently fair account of this historic encounter: 
“ March, 1770, On Monday evening the 5th 
current, a few Minutes after 9 O’Clock a most 
horrid murder was committed in King Street 
before the Custom house Door by 8 or 9 Sol¬ 
diers under the Command of Capt Thos Preston 
of from the Main Guard on the South side of 
the Town House. This unhappy affair began 
by Some Boys & young fellow’s throwing Snow 
Balls at the sentry placed at the Customhouse 
Door. On which 8 or 9 Solders Came to his 
assistance. Soon after a Number of people 
collected, when the Capt commanded the Sol¬ 
diers to fire, which they did and 3 Men were 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 19 


Kil’d on the Spot & several Mortaly Wounded, 
one of which died next morning. The Capt 
soon drew off his Soldiers up to the Main Guard, 
or the Consequencis mite have been terable, 
for on the Guns fiering the people were alarm’d 
& set the Bells a Ringing as if for Fire, which 
drew Multitudes to the place of action. Levt 
Governor Hutchinson, who was Commander 
in Chefe, was sent for & Came to the Council 
Chamber, were some of the Magistrates at¬ 
tended. The Governor desired the Multitude 
about 10 O’Clock to sepperat & go home 
peaceable & he would do all in his power that 
Justice shold be don &c. The 29 Regiment 
being then under Arms on the south side of the 
Townhouse, but the people insisted that the 
Soldiers should be ordered to their Barracks 1st 
before they would* sepperat, Which being don 
the people sepperated aboute 1 O’Clock. Capt 
Preston was taken up by a warrent given to the 
high Sherif by Justice Dania & Tudor [the 
writer of the Diary] and came under Exam¬ 
ination about 2 O’Clock & we sent him to 
Goal soon after 3, having Evidence sufficient 
to commit him on his ordering the soldiers to 
fire; So aboute 4 O’Clock the Town became 
quiet. The next forenoon the 8 Soldiers that 
fired on the inhabitants was also sent to Goal. 

“ Tuesday a. m. the inhabitants mett at 
Faneuil Hall & after some pertinant speeches, 


20 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

chose a Committee of 15 Gentlemen to waite 
on the Levt Governor in Council, to request 
the immediate removeal of the Troops. The 
message was in these Words. That it is the 
unanimous opinion of this Meeting that the 
inhabitants & soldiery can no longer live to¬ 
gether in safety; that nothing can Ratonaly 
be expected to restore the peace of the Town 
& prevent Blood & Carnage but the removal 
of the Troops: and that we most fervently pray 
his Honor that his power & influence may be 
exerted for their instant removal. His Honor’s 
Reply was. Gentlemen I am extremely sorry 
for the unhappy difference & especially of the 
last Evening & Signifieng that it was not in 
his power to remove the Troops &c &c. 

“ The Above Reply was not satisfactory to 
the Inhabitants, as but one Regiment should 
be Removed to the Castle Barracks. In the 
afternoon the Town Adjourned to Dr. Sewill’s 
Meetinghouse [the Old South], for Fanieuil Hall 
was not larg enough to hold the people, their 
being at least 2,000, some supos’d near 4,000, 
when they chose a Committee to waite on the 
Levt. Governor to let him & the Council Know 
that nothing less will satisfy the people than a 
total & immedaiate removal of the Troops 
oute of the Town. — His Honor laid before 
the Council the Vote of the Town. The Council 
thereon expressed themselves to be unanimously 



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PAUL REVERE’s EXGRAVIXG OF THE BOSTOX MASSACRE. 


Page 17 
























GEORGE III. LORD NORTIi. 

Page 22 Page 22 

































































































































































































































































































































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 21 

of opinion that it was absolutely Necessary for 
his Majesty service, the good order of the Town 
&c that the Troops Should be immeditly re¬ 
moved oute of the Town. 


“ His Honor Communicated this advice of 
the Council to Col Dalrymple & desir’d he 
would order the Troops down to Castle William. 
After the Col. had seen the Vote of the Council 
He gave his Word & honor to the Town’s 
Committe that both Regiments should be re¬ 
mov’d without delay. The Comte return’d to 
the Town Meeting & Mr. Hancock, chairman 
of the Com’te Read their Report as above, 
which was received with a shoute & clap of 
hands which made the Meetinghouse Ring: So 
the Meeting was dessolved and a great number 
of Gentlemen appear’d to Watch the Center 
of the Town & the prison, which continued 
for II Nights and all was quiet again, as the 
Soldiers was all moved of to the Castle.” 

But the Yankee dead of that fifth of March 
were buried with a great funeral procession 
in the Granary Burying Ground and on each 
fifth of March after that, until the celebration 
of July 4th came to take its place, the day of the 
massacre was observed at Boston in stirring 
patriotic addresses. 


22 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Before the news of the massacre had reached 
England, on the very day indeed of the event, 
Lord North brought in a bill to repeal the duties 
which the Bostonians so deeply resented with the 
exception of that on tea. This the king insisted 
upon retaining in order to avoid surrendering the 
principle at issue. The first effect of the royal 
generosity was to weaken the spirit of opposi¬ 
tion in America and to create a division among 
the colonies. For the greater part of the Ameri¬ 
cans were desirous, after the fashion of mankind 
everywhere, to let things go on peaceably if 
possible. Hutchinson shrewdly observed, in 
June, 1772, that the union of the colonies seemed 
to be broken and he hoped it would not be re¬ 
newed, for he believed it meant separation 
from the mother country, and that he regarded 
as the worst of calamities. 

Already Dr. Franklin, the ablest man to whom 
Boston has ever given birth, had been ap¬ 
pointed agent of Massachusetts in England and 
was striving in every way he could to harmonize 
the interests of the two contestants. 

His efforts in this direction were variously 
received. In his Journal for “ Wednesday 
16 January, 1771,” one reads: “I went this 
morning to wait on Lord Hillsborough. The 
porter at first denied his Lordship, on which 
I left my name and drove off. But before the 
coach got out of the square the coachman came 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 23 

and said, ‘ His Lordship will see you, sir.’ 1 
was shown into the levee room where I found 
Governor Bernard, who, I understand, at¬ 
tends there constantly.” Bernard and Frank¬ 
lin were not fond of each other, neither being 
able, truth to tell, to do the other justice. More¬ 
over, Bernard and Hutchinson were friends 
and Franklin was bent, as subsequent develop¬ 
ments showed, upon the removal from office 
of the author of the “ Hutchinson letters.” 

In the autumn of 1772, an extra session of 
the assembly was wanted to consider what 
should be done about having the judges paid 
by the Crown. This Hutchinson refused to call, 
whereupon Samuel Adams devised a scheme 
by which assemblies were rendered unneces¬ 
sary. Each town, at his suggestion, appointed 
a standing committee which could consult with 
committees from other towns and decide upon 
the action to be taken in case of emergency. 
From the fact that the greater part of the work 
of these committees was necessarily done by 
letter they were called “ Committees of Cor¬ 
respondence.” This was the step that effect¬ 
ively organized the Revolution. For now there 
was ahvays in session an invisible legislature 
which the governor had no means of stopping. 
The next step was the extension of the plan 
so that there were committees of correspondence 
between the several colonies. From that to 


24 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


a permanent Continental Congress was an easy 
transition. 

No sooner was the machinery for resistance 
at hand than there came a magnificent oppor¬ 
tunity to use it and to challenge the Crown. The 
duty on tea had not been removed, and in Amer¬ 
ica generally no tea was being imported from 
England. The colonists were smuggling it 
from Holland. Now, unless the Americans 
could be made to buy tea from England and 
pay the duty on it, the king must own himself 
defeated, — and the East India Company would 
be deprived of a valuable market. A law was 
accordingly pushed through Parliament au¬ 
thorizing the exportation of tea without the 
payment of duty in England. As a result, 
it was pointed out, the tea, plus the tax imposed 
by the Revenue Act, could be sold in America 
under the cost of tea smuggled from Holland. 
It was supposed that the Americans would, 
of course, buy the tea that they could get most 
cheaply. Not yet had it been borne in upon 
the stupid ministers of the king that those men 
in America were contending for a principle, 
not looking for a bargain in groceries. 

Clearly, theirs was the blindness of those who 
will not see. The attitude of the colonists 
towards tea had been repeatedly defined. Com¬ 
munication was slow in those days, to be sure, 
but all that happened eventually found its way 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 25 


to the mother country and the news that tea 
was a tabooed beverage in Boston could not 
have failed to reach those interested. A meeting 
had been held at Faneuil Hall in which the men 
had voted to abstain totally from the use of 
tea (many of them really liked it, too, in those 
days), and soon the mistresses of four hundred 
and ten families pledged themselves to drink 
no more tea till the Revenue Act was repealed. 
A few days later, one hundred and twenty young 
ladies formed a similar league. “ We, the 
daughters of those patriots,” said they, “ who 
have and do now appear for the public interest, 
and in that principally regard their posterity, 
— as such do with pleasure engage with them 
in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign 
tea, in hope to frustrate a plan that tends to 
deprive a whole community of all that is valu¬ 
able in life.” And, not to be behind the Daugh¬ 
ters of Liberty, the students of Harvard College 
bound themselves, in 1768, to use no more of 
“ that pernicious herb.” 

Even the children caught the infection of 
liberty. Hannah Winthrop writes to Mrs. 
Mercy Warren, in 1769: “ I went to see Mrs. 
Otis, the other day. She seems not to be in a 
good state of health. I received a visit lately 
from Master Jemmy. I will give you an anec¬ 
dote of him. A gentleman telling him what a 
Fine Lady his mama is & he hoped he would 


26 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


be a good Boy & behave exceeding well to her, 
my young master gave this spirited answer, 
I know my Mama is a fine Lady, but she would 
be a much finer if she was a Daughter of Lib¬ 
erty/’ It once even fell to the lot of John Adams 
to be rebuked by a Daughter of Liberty for 
having called for tea in her house. “Is it 
lawful for a weary traveller to refresh himself 
with a dish of tea, provided it has been honestly 
smuggled or paid no duties P ” he asked. “ No, 
sir,” responded the lady. “ We have renounced 
all tea in this place, but I’ll make you coffee.” 
Even the word aroused resentment, it will be 
seen. 

In New York, Philadelphia and Charleston, 
mass-meetings of the people voted that the 
consignees to whom the East India Company 
had shipped the odious tea should be ordered 
to resign their offices, and they did so. At 
Philadelphia the tea-ship was met and sent 
back to England before it had come within 
the jurisdiction of the custom-house. At Charles¬ 
ton the tea was landed, and as there was no 
one to receive it or pay the duty, it was thrown 
into a damp cellar and left there to spoil. In 
Boston things took a different turn. Three 
times the consignees were asked to resign, and 
three times they refused. Their stubbornness 
is the better understood when we learn that two 
of them were Governor Hutchinson’s own sons. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 27 

It was on Sunday, November 28, 1773, that 
the “ Dartmouth,” loaded with tea, arrived 
in Boston Harbor. From Rotch, the owner 
of the vessel, the Committee of Correspondence 
promptly obtained a promise that the ship 
should not be entered until Tuesday. On 
Monday the towns about Boston were invited 
to attend a mass-meeting in Faneuil Hall. 
As the result of this and other similar meetings, 
the firm resolve that that tea should on no account 
be landed took possession of the people. Two 
other ships soon came to anchor near the “ Dart¬ 
mouth ” and were guarded, as she was, by a 
committee of citizens. The consignees by this 
time would have been willing to yield, but 
Hutchinson would not give a permit to let the 
vessels go sailing back to England. So the days 
wore away and the time was fast drawing near 
when the tea would be seized under the law 
and brought on shore. Then came the last day 
and the Collector of Customs still refused ab¬ 
solutely to grant a clearance to the ships unless 
the teas were discharged. 

The next day was December 16, 1773, and 
seven thousand people were assembled in town 
meeting in and around the Old South Meeting- 
House. Eagerly they awaited, in the fast- 
darkening church, the return of Rotch, who had 
been sent out to the governor’s house in Milton 
to ask as a last resort for a passport from him. 


28 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

At nightfall the ship-owner returned with the 
word that the governor refused such a passport. 
No sooner had he made this report than Samuel 
Adams arose and said: “ This meeting can 

do nothing more to save the country.” The 
words were a signal, but they were also a simple 
statement of truth. For by sunrise the next 
morning the revenue officers, in the ordinary 
course of events, would board the ships and 
unload their cargoes; then the consignees would 
go to the custom-house and pay the duty, — 
and the king’s scheme would be crowned with 
success. 

Yet not so did things fall out. For, the instant 
that Adams’ words left his lips, a shout was 
heard in the street and some forty or fifty men, 
disguised as Indians, darted by the door and 
down towards the wharves, followed by the 
people. Rushing on board the tea-ships, the 
“ Mohawks,” as they were called, set them¬ 
selves, in most businesslike fashion, to clearing 
the vessels of their cargoes. No violence was 
committed, no tea was taken. British historians 
are wont to characterize the affair as a riot, but 
it was very far indeed from being that. Henry 
Cabot Lodge, in his illuminating book on Bos¬ 
ton, has called the tea-party “ a picturesque 
refusal ” on the part of the people of Boston 
to pay the tax. “ But,” he adds, truly, “ it was 
also something more. It was the sudden appear- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 29 


ance, in a world tired of existing systems of 
government, of the power of the people in action. 
The expression may have been rude and the 
immediate result trivial, but the act was none 
the less of the gravest consequence. It was the 
small beginning of the great democratic move¬ 
ment which has gone forward ever since, and 
which it would have been well for English 
statesmen who w T ere then concerned with it to 
have pondered deeply.” 

Retaliation was, however, the only idea that 
the king and his ministers could then entertain 
and, in spite of opposition on the part of certain 
far-seeing men in Parliament, two acts to ex¬ 
press this were passed. One was the Boston 
Port Bill designed to suspend the trade and close 
the harbor of the town which had dared re¬ 
bellion. The other was the Regulating Act, by 
which the charter of Massachusetts was an¬ 
nulled, its free government swept away and a 
military governor appointed with despotic power 
such as Andros had had, nearly a hundred years 
before. 

Odd that those well-read English ministers 
did not press to its logical conclusion that analogy 
of Andros! 


CHAPTER III 


TWO ENGLISH CHAMPIONS OF THE DAWNING 
REPUBLIC 

A T the time of the Boston Port Bill and 
the disturbances it entailed, just as at 
the time of Sir Harry Vane 1 and his 
troubles, one must look at the march of events 
in old England, no less than in New England, in 
order to understand the whole situation. 

The resistance of the Massachusetts men to 
the tyranny of the king was as much applauded 
by certain great souls in England as by the 
patriots in the other colonies. The quarrel, 
in a word, was not between England and Amer¬ 
ica, but between George III and the principles 
for which America stood. 

Of those principles two Englishmen of great 
distinction — William Pitt and Charles Fox — 
were champions. And because every American 
who cares for the cause of Liberty must be in¬ 
terested in these men, who braved unpopu¬ 
larity for Liberty’s sake, I want here to retrace 

1 [See “ St. Botolph’s Town,” Chapter V.] 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 31 


their glorious careers, even if in so doing I run 
somewhat ahead of my narrative. 

The William Pitt referred to is he whom 
Heber described as 


Young without follies, without rashness bold. 
And greatly poor amidst a nation’s gold/* 


not, of course, the great Earl of Chatham, whose 
speech on the Repeal of the Stamp Act is the 
glorious heritage of all English-speaking people. 
“ Untarnished Chatham’s genuine child,” the 
second Pitt has been called, a son, that is, whose 
eloquence, probity and high-minded statesman¬ 
ship serve to render him the peer in history’s 
pages of even his distinguished father. 

“ I am glad that I am not the eldest son. I 
want to speak in the House of Commons, like 
papa,” is the exclamation attributed to young 
Pitt, then a youth of seventeen, when he learned 
(in August, 1776) that his father had become 
Earl of Chatham. It was indeed towards speak¬ 
ing in the House of Commons that all the lad’s 
thoughts and hopes were directed. At Eton and 
Cambridge he made the orations of history and 
literature an intimate part of his mental equip¬ 
ment. In these debates, it is interesting to 
observe, he always studied both sides. His 
favorite employment, Macaulay tells us, was 
to prepare harangues on opposite sides of the 


32 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

same question, to analyze them and to observe 
which of the arguments of the first speaker 
were refuted by the second, which were evaded, 
and which were left untouched. This practice 
made following actual debates in the House of 
Commons as fascinating an occupation to him 
as visiting the circus is to the country lad who 
has been performing acrobatic stunts with the 
old farm horse. 

Fox, who was eleven years Pitt’s senior, used 
to relate w T ith relish his first meeting with the 
gifted lad. The scene was the steps leading 
up to the throne of the House of Lords, and Pitt 
was there, with a group of college friends, 
listening to the debate. Fox, who was already 
the greatest debater and one of the greatest 
orators that had ever appeared in England, 
was disposed to sit quietly listening. But as 
the discussion proceeded he was repeatedly 
addressed by Pitt with an eager “ Surely, Mr. 
Fox, that might be met thus,” or “ Yes, but he 
lays himself open to this retort.” Fox was 
naturally much struck with the precocity of 
this lad, who, through the w r hole sitting, seemed 
to be thinking only how the speeches on both 
sides could be answered. 

When Pitt was nineteen he passed, at the 
House of Lords, a day ever sad and memorable 
to him, but of the greatest interest to us as Amer¬ 
icans. For France had just recognized the in- 




CHARLES JAIMES FOX. WILLIAM PITT 

Page 32 Paee 32 

























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OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 33 

dependence of the United States, and a great 
debate was expected. For this reason the Earl 
of Chatham insisted upon being in his place, 
though his health had of late been wretched. 
His son supported him to his seat. Scarcely 
had the aged man risen to address the house 
when he fell back in convulsions. A few weeks 
later he died, and his favorite child and name¬ 
sake followed his coffin in gloomy pomp from 
the Painted Chamber to the transept, in West¬ 
minster Abbey, where his own was destined to 
lie, near that of Fox. 

It was now necessary for William, as a younger 
son, to follow a profession. In the spring of 
1780 he became of age; immediately afterward 
he was called to the bar, and in the fall of that 
same year he offered himself as a candidate 
and was returned to Parliament. He meant 
to lose no time in putting into practice his genius 
for debate. 

George the Third was still pursuing his 
obstinate course towards America, and Fox 
and Burke were doing their united best to 
oppose the suicidal policy of Lord North. To 
the support of the colonies Pitt immediately 
added his voice. On the 26th of February, 1781, 
he made his first speech to endorse a reform 
measure advocated by Burke. Fox, who had 
already risen to address the house, instantly 
gave way to him, admiring as he settled back 


34 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

in his place, the self-possession of the young 
orator and the exquisite silver voice in which 
he delivered his perfect but unpremeditated 
sentences. Burke was moved to tears, ex¬ 
claiming joyfully: “ It is not a chip of the old 
block; it is the old block itself.” And Fox, 
who had no trace of envy in his make-up, re¬ 
plied tersely to a member who observed that 
Pitt would be one of the first men in Parlia¬ 
ment: “ He is so already.” 

Such seemed indeed to be the case. Pitt 
continued to speak often and eloquently in 
support of America, and in spite of the neces¬ 
sarily unpopular stand he had taken, he was 
offered, when he had scarcely completed his 
twenty-third year, the great place of chancellor 
of the exchequer! Before he was twenty-five 
he was the most powerful subject in Europe. 
Now that he occupied a position of enormous 
influence his training bore fruit. Through his 
whole boyhood the House of Commons had 
never been out of his thought, and whether 
reading Cicero or Thucydides he was training 
for the conflicts of debate. He could forci¬ 
bly yet luminously, therefore, present to his 
audience the most complicated, the most diffi¬ 
cult of subjects. “ Nothing was out of place,” 
Macaulay records; “ nothing was forgotten; 
minute details, dates, sums of money were all 
faithfully preserved in his memory. Even in- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 35 

tricate questions of finance, when explained by 
him, seemed clear to the plainest man among 
his hearers/’ 

Yet when all is said, it was because of Pitt’s 
lofty character that his speeches were so great 
a success. Save for a hint of pride, he may be 
said to have had no faults. He was incapable 
of envy or fear, above any kind of meanness, 
and his private life was absolutely beyond 
reproach. In an age of venality, too, he never 
accepted bounties of any kind; and while he 
was surrounded by friends upon whom he had 
bestowed titles and rich annuities, he remained 
plain Mr. to the end of his life, and put up with 
a very meagre salary. 

Pitt’s love for England was deep and sincere 
even though he had espoused the cause of 
America. To England he devoted all that he had 
of strength and of service. When the battle of 
Austerlitz presaged the extent to which Bona¬ 
parte was later to humble the first nation of 
Europe, Pitt could not rally from the blow. He 
died January 23, 1806, on the twenty-fifth anni¬ 
versary of that day when he first took his seat 
in Parliament. For almost twenty of those 
years he had been first lord of the treasury and 
undisputed chief of the administration. No 
English statesman had ever held supreme power 
so long; none had ever combated the tyranny 
of the Crown so successfully. 


36 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Charles James Fox, Pitt’s great rival, possessed 
every charming human quality which Pitt 
lacked. The speeches of Pitt persuade by the 
elegance of their diction, the sincerity of their 
appeal, the loftiness of their tone; those of Fox 
charm by their warm admiration of everything 
great and beautiful, their fierce hatred of what¬ 
ever is cruel and unjust. Dr. Johnson said of 
this orator that he made it a question whether 
the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of 
George III or the tongue of Fox. Even Pitt, 
renowned for his coolness and self-possession, 
could not remain unmoved by the magnetic 
quality of Fox’s eloquence. On one occasion 
when a Frenchman had been expressing wonder 
at the immense influence wielded by Fox, “ a 
mere gambler and a man of pleasure,” Pitt re¬ 
torted, 66 You have not been under the wand of 
the magician.” 

At first Fox used his gifts very much as a 
magician might. He enjoyed juggling with the 
slow wits of his fellow-members and would speak 
without conviction or premeditation upon what¬ 
ever subject was up for discussion. To him 
it was only a diverting game in which, by virtue 
of his gift of debate, he always held the best 
hand. His father had been as dissolute and 
unprincipled as the Earl of Chatham was clean- 
hearted and high-minded. As the merest lad 
Fox was plunged into such temptations as 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 37 

assailed Pitt at no time in his life. Like Pitt, 
however, he was graduated from college at an 
early age, and, like him also, he entered Parlia¬ 
ment, when little more than a boy. 

But if Fox, during the first five years of his 
public career, was reckless, in political, as in 
private life, he later threw himself with real 
earnestness into the American question. The 
more he studied it the more his warm heart and 
clear head were touched by the principles at 
stake, and after the election in which his friend, 
the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, worked for 
his return to Parliament, — even bartering kisses 
for votes, it is said, — he was the colonies’ cham¬ 
pion in earnest. 

Moreover, he had quarrelled with Lord North, 
so that it suited his inclination as well as his 
convictions to oppose that personage with all 
possible vigor. When the Boston Port Bill was 
up for debate, he objected that it gave too much 
power into the hands of the Crown; a month 
later he vehemently denounced the attempt to 
tax the colonists without their consent; just 
before this he had cast his first vote with the 
Whig party in favor of repealing the duty on tea. 

Fox was at his best during the American War. 
Throughout the six years of the War Parlia¬ 
ment he never threw away an opportunity to 
speak for America, and the whisper that Charles 
Fox was on his legs would fill the House in a 


38 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

moment. To perfect himself in the arts of 
vindictive declamation, he read again the philip¬ 
pics of Demosthenes and, profiting by their tui¬ 
tion, he would pour upon Lord North such fierce¬ 
ness of personal attack as made the House fairly 
quake with apprehension. It was at this period, 
too, that he developed that gift of quick retort, 
ready wit, clear statement, and dashing attack 
which made him the first of parliamentary gladi¬ 
ators. Now that he was really in earnest, he 
could be much more compelling than heretofore. 
It was quite in the spirit of a knight of King 
Arthur’s court that he rode forth to redress 
the wrongs of America. 

Yet Fox was never a professional politician 
in the sense that Pitt was. He too greatly 
loved a quiet hour with his books. As he grew 
older and abandoned his reckless way of living, 
the joys of Virgil and of gardening seemed to 
him vastly superior to those of debate. At the 
very height of his political career, he withdrew 
from public life to enjoy these quiet pleasures 
in the company of his dearly-loved wife, and 
only the encroaching greatness of Napoleon 
availed to lure him again from his idyllic re¬ 
treat at St. Ann’s Hill. 

The opening of the year 1806, however, 
found him back in office, doing all that one 
man could to restore peace to England. In 
this he was not successful; seven months of 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 39 


negotiation served indeed to make it clear to 
him that war between Napoleon and England 
was inevitable. But he did succeed, that ses¬ 
sion, in putting through one important measure 
which had been dear to Pitt also. Year after 
year both these great men had raised their 
voices against the detestable trade in slaves by 
which England was being enriched, and now 
that he had power Fox determined to show that 
his sympathy with these poor oppressed crea¬ 
tures was not a mere matter of words. In 
June, 1806, therefore, he pledged himself to 
introduce a measure of total abolition. 

It was his last speech in Parliament. Though 
he did not live to see it a law, he, and he alone, 
must ever be credited with the measure by which 
it was made a felony for British subjects to 
trade in negroes. For this, no less than for 
his service to the colonies, he should be eter¬ 
nally honored in America. 


CHAPTER IV 


WHEN EARL PERCY LIVED OPPOSITE THE COMMON 

O F course the enforcement of the Boston 
Port Bill worked great hardship to the 
town. Boston was preeminently a tra¬ 
ding centre and, with its commerce cut off, its 
warehouses empty and its ships idle at the 
wharves, thousands were thrown out of employ¬ 
ment. The other towns along the coast line 
refused, however, to take advantage of Boston’s 
plight, and relief was freely sent to the boy¬ 
cotted city. 

The legislature met now at Salem, for rebel¬ 
lious Boston could no longer be the seat of govern¬ 
ment, and to it came, soon after Gage had taken 
possession, a messenger to dissolve its sessions. 
The members, however, held the door against 
this messenger and, before he had had a chance 
to deliver his lord’s decree, a call to the other 
colonies had been sent out, — and the first 
step toward the initial meeting of the Conti¬ 
nental Congress had been taken. To its sessions 
in Philadelphia John and Samuel Adams were 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 41 

sent as delegates, the absence of the former 
giving us the first of those remarkable letters 
from Abigail Adams to which reference will be 
made later, and that of the latter supplying 
to Dr. Joseph Warren the opportunity to draw 
up at Milton, in the county of Suffolk, a series 



THE SUFFOLK RESOLVES HOUSE, MILTON 


of resolves which fairly set on foot the Revolu¬ 
tion. 

These resolves, nineteen in number, were by 
far the boldest doctrines ever adopted or pro¬ 
mulgated in America, and probably did more 
than any one other thing to bring matters to 
a crisis. They declared that the sovereign who 




42 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

breaks his compact with his subjects forfeits 
their allegiance. They arraigned as uncon¬ 
stitutional the repressive acts of Parliament, and 
rejected all officers appointed under their au¬ 
thority. 

They directed collectors of taxes to pay over 
no money to the royal treasurer. They advised 
the towns to choose their officers of militia from 
the friends of the people. 

They favored a provincial congress, and prom¬ 
ised respect and submission to the Continental 
Congress. They determined to act upon the 
defensive as long as reason and self-preservation 
would permit, but no longer. 

They threatened to seize every crown officer 
in the province as hostages if the governor 
should arrest any one for political reasons. 
They also arranged a system of couriers to carry 
messages to town officers and corresponding 
committees. They earnestly advocated the well- 
known American principles of social order as 
the basis of all political action; exhorted all 
persons to abstain from riots and all attacks 
upon the property of any person whatsoever; 
and urged their countrymen to “ convince their 
enemies that in a contest so important, in a 
cause so solemn, their conduct should be such 
as to merit the approbation of the wise, and the 
admiration of the brave and free of every age 
and country.” 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 43 

No sooner had General Gage heard of the 
adoption of these resolves than he sent to Eng¬ 
land for more troops, and began that campaign 
of confiscation which ended in the fight of Lex¬ 
ington and Concord. Before we proceed to 
discuss the natural and inevitable outcome 
of these resolves let us, however, examine a little 
the state of mind of those other officers who 
were associated with Gage in the difficult task 
of putting down the Bostonians. 

The most interesting personality in the group 
was he whom we in America know best as Earl 
Percy, a man whose father had voted against 
the Stamp Act, who was himself opposed to 
the American war, but who yet felt it to be 
his duty to come to America with his regiment 
when orders to that effect were given. To this 
man we are able to come pretty close to-day 
for we are so fortunate as to have now available, 
— through the diligent scholarship of the late 
Edward Griffin Porter and the careful editing 
of Charles Knowles Bolton, — a number of 
letters sent by Percy to his kinsfolk in England 
during the period of his Boston service. On 
the voyage over he had written: “ Surely the 
People of Boston are not Mad enough to think 
of opposing us,” but three months later (July 5, 
1774) we find him recording a fear “ that we shall 
be obliged to come to extremities ... so extremely 
violent and wrong-headed are the people.” 


44 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

A few days later lie adds that “ as General 
Gage received orders to remain at Salem, I 
have been left commanding officer of the camp. 
. . . The people here talk much & do little; 
but nothing, I am sure, will ever reestablish 
peace & quiet in this country, except steadiness 
& perseverance on the part of the Administra¬ 
tion. . . . The people in this part of the country 
are in general made up of rashness & timidity. 
Quick and violent in their determinations, they 
are fearful in the execution of them unless, 
indeed, they are quite certain of meeting little 
or no opposition, & then, like all other cowards, 
they are cruel and tyrannical. To hear them 
talk you would imagine that they would attack 
us & demolish us every night & yet, whenever 
we appear, they are frightened out of their wits. 
They begin to feel a little the effects of the Port 
Bill & were they not supported by the other 
Colonies, must before this have submitted. 
One thing I will be bold to say, which is, that 
until you make their Committees of Corre¬ 
spondence and Congresses with the other Colo¬ 
nies high treason & try them for it in England, 
you must never expect perfect obedience & 
submission from this to the Mother Country/’ 

“ This is the most beautiful country I ever 
saw in my life,” writes Percy, under the head, 
“ Camp of Boston, Aug. 8, 1774,” “& if the 
people were only like it, we shd do very well. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 45 

Everything, however, is as yet quiet, but they 
threaten much. Not that I believe they dare 
act.” 

A week later, he felicitates himself upon 
having acquired, in the town of which he was 
now practically the ruler, “ a good house to dine 
in (for we are all obliged to remain at other 
times & sleep in camp). By this convenience 
I am enabled to ask the officers of the Line 
& occasionally the Gentlemen of the country, 
to dine with me; & as I have the command of 
the Troops here, I always have a table of 12 
covers every day. This, tho’ very expensive, 
is however, very necessary.” 

In a delightful little brochure called “ Earl 
Percy’s Dinner Table,” Harold Murdock has 
pictured for us a typical dinner company at the 
headquarters of this hospitable host, — situated 
then at the corner of Winter and Tremont 
Streets, though there is evidence that, at one 
time, the young officer was entertained by 
William Vassall, on Pemberton Hill, in what 
was later known as the Gardiner Greene man¬ 
sion. Mr. Murdock is a modern writer and 
there is no authentic document to support the 
list of “ those present ” which it has pleased 
him to draw up. But, so carefully and con¬ 
scientiously has his little sketch been prepared, 
that I am very glad of his permission to quote 
from it here: 


46 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

“ The house occupied by Percy . . . had 
been built early in the century, and its windows 
looked out upon the open pasturage of the 
Common. Through the thin foliage of those 
youthful elms which Mr. Paddock planted, 
loomed the crest of Beacon Hill, with its gaunt 
signal drawn like a gibbet against the sky, 
while more to the west and down the slope 
there was a glimpse of the bright waters of the 
Charles, with the wooded heights of Brookline 
and Newton beyond. The location was most 
convenient for the Earl, who was always within 
a stone’s throw of the camps. It is pleasant 
to see him crossing the Common each afternoon 
to do the honors of his mansion, and day by 
day and week by week it is interesting to watch 
his guests passing in and out of the great door. 
It opens to officers in scarlet and gold, and to 
officers in the blue of the Royal Navy, to gentle¬ 
men in silks and brocades and to gentlemen in 
velvet and lace. Old Dr. Caner goes up the 
path, leaning upon his stick, the great coach 
of Colonel Royall lumbers up to the garden gate, 
the chaise of Judge Lee waits in Winter Street 
to carry His Honor back to Cambridge. 

“ And now, as the darkness of an early spring 
day comes on, let us in imagination look into 
Earl Percy’s dining-room and see what passes 
there. The newly lighted candles are burning 
brightly on the broad table around which the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 47 

Earl’s eleven guests are sitting at their ease, all 
but three in the uniform of the royal army. 
The dinner is cleared away and the port and 
madeira are going the rounds. The Earl is 
chatting with a strapping officer on his left 
whose handsome face is a fair legacy from the 
race of which he comes. This is Lieutenant- 
Colonel Gunning of the 43d Foot. . . . On 
the right of Lord Percy is a lad of twelve or 
thirteen years, who is the hero of the occasion. 
This is Roger Sheaffe, son to the faithful cus¬ 
toms collector whose memory is abhorred by 
rebellious Boston. He has won his way into 
the affection of the Earl who has promised to 
see to it that he gains a commission in his regi¬ 
ment. . . . 

“ The rather stout officer who sits beyond 
Sheaffe ... is the Hon. Henry Edward Fox, 
the youngest son of the late Lord Holland, 
and a captain in the 38th Regiment. Any one 
familiar with the prominent faces at West¬ 
minster, at Brook’s Club, or on the track at 
Newmarket, would recognize in the Captain 
a near kinsman to the celebrated Charles James 
Fox. . . . Harry Fox is said to have little of 
his brother’s brilliancy and none of his vices, 
and when the 38th sailed for America Mr. 
Horace Walpole of Strawberry Hill informed 
Sir Horace Mann that they took with them 
Lord Holland’s ‘ only good son.’ . . . Across 


48 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the table is Captain William Glanville Evelyn 
of the King’s Own, a man of quiet, serious 
countenance marked with the scars of small¬ 
pox. ... He is flattered and happy to sit at 
Earl Percy’s table to-night. Scandal has not 
left the Captain’s name unsullied, and the curi¬ 
ous among his acquaintance would know more 
of pretty Peggie Wright, who has come out to 
him from England. It is whispered that she 
was a servant in his father’s household. . . . 

“ At the foot of the table the Reverend Mather 
Byles is discoursing with Major John Pitcairn 
of the Royal Marines, and keeping that staid 
old officer in a state of uproarious laughter. 
Poor Dr. Byles labors under the disadvantage 
of being considered not only a preacher but a 
poet and wit as well. Within the year a doggerel 
rhyme describing the local clergy has gone the 
rounds of Boston, and in the two stanzas de* 
voted to Byles even his friends admit that a 
lively portrait has been drawn. 


“ There’s punning Byles provokes our smiles, 
A man of stately parts; 

Who visits folks to crack his jokes. 

That never mend their hearts. 

u With strutting gait and wig so great. 

He walks along the streets, 

And throws out wit, or what’s like it, 

To every one he meets. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 49 

“ Though not of the Church of England Dr. 
Byles is in the eyes of the army the most sensible 
as well as the most delightful clergyman in 
Boston. He has correspondents among the 
brightest literary lights in England, and will 
show with pride volumes from his library with 
the loving inscription of his dear friend, the 
late Mr. Pope of immortal memory. At heart 
an arrant Tory, he has kept his congregation 
in order by asserting that his functions are 
spiritual and that it is not for him to profane 
his pulpit by discussing the political problems 
of the day. . . . 

“ There is that in Major Pitcairn which at¬ 
tracts the Reverend Byles as it must all men 
who admire honest simplicity and courage. 
Here in rebellious Boston, hot-headed towns¬ 
people affronted by quarrelsome or drunken 
soldiers are glad to leave their grievances in 
Pitcairn’s hands for reparation. Blunt and out¬ 
spoken, he is yet a modest man, and in the long 
years that have passed since he left his Fifeshire 
home he feels that he has made little of his life. 
... If the time shall come, which God forbid, 
that the sword is really drawn in this distracted 
province, he will do his full duty to the King 
and will do it humanely by firing low with shotted 
muskets. In the mean time he is accomplish¬ 
ing as much for peace as any man in Boston who 
wears King George’s livery-” 


50 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Such were some of those whom Earl Percy 
entertained on Winter Street. He himself is 
shown by his pictures, and by letters and ac¬ 
counts which have come down to us, to have been 
a young man of courage and character, with a 
delicate high-bred face in which might be dis¬ 
cerned just a tinge of melancholy, induced, 
very likely, by his unhappy domestic experience. 
For it was now five years since he had separated 
from that sprightly granddaughter of Lady 
Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he had made his 
wife in 1764, and of whom we are given a racy 
glimpse in the Journals and Correspondence 
of Miss Berry. 

Percy, not having a wife to whom he could 
send accounts of his American campaign, ad¬ 
dressed his letters to his friends and kinsfolk 
overseas. And they, as good fortune would 
have it, preserved his communications care¬ 
fully. At first the letters are disposed to under¬ 
value the character and courage of the Americans 
but, little by little, there creeps in an apprecia¬ 
tion of the resourcefulness of a people who 
could cope with a royal army, and parry blows 
inflicted by royal edicts. Under the heading 
“ Camp at Boston, Aug. 21, 1774,” he says: 

“ Their method of eluding that part of the 
Act [which swept away the rights of Massa¬ 
chusetts under the charter] relating to the town 
meetings is strongly characteristic of the people. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 51 


They say that since the town meetings are forbid 
by the Act, they shall not hold them, but as they 
do not see any mention made of county meetings, 
they shall hold them for the future. They there¬ 
fore go a mile out of town, do just the same busi¬ 
ness there they formerly did in Boston, call it 
a county meeting, & so elude the Act. In short, 
I am certain that it will require a great length 
of time, much steadiness, and many troops, 
to reestablish good order & government. . . .” 

To his father, a month later, Earl Percy 
writes: “ Things here are now drawing to a 
crisis every day. The People here openly 
oppose the new Acts. They have taken up 
Arms in almost every part of this Province, & 
have drove in the Govr & most of the Council. 
The few that remain in the country they have 
not only obliged to resign, but to take up arms 
with them. A few days ago, they mustered 
about 7000 men at Worcester, to wh place they 
have conveyed about 20 pieces of cannon. . . .” 

For “ the General’s great lenity and modera¬ 
tion,” Percy is beginning by this time to have 
only scant respect. He grants that Gage is 
behaving with exceeding “ discretion and pru¬ 
dence,” but he sees clearly, none the less, 
that the time for temporizing is almost past. 
With unmistakable pleasure he now writes that 
his superior officer has “ given orders for forti¬ 
fying the town.” 


52 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

A dawning respect for his opponents, too, 
is discernible in this letter, albeit the same is 
not very graciously expressed. “ What makes 
an insurrection here always more formidable 
than in other places,” he writes, “ is that there 
is a law of this Province wh obliges every in¬ 
habitant to be furnished with a firelock, bayo¬ 
net, & pretty considerable quantity of ammuni¬ 
tion. Besides wh, every township is obliged 
by the same law to have a large magazine of 
all kind of military stores. They are, moreover, 
trained four times in each year, so that they 
do not make a despicable appearance as soldiers, 
tho’ they were never yet known to behave them¬ 
selves even decently in the field.” 

A pleasant touch of color is lent to Percy’s 
next letter by his astonished reference to the 
Indian summer which Bostonians of to-day 
know so well. The date is October 27, 1774: 
“ It was so warm yesterday,” he writes, “ and is 
again so warm to-day that I am obliged to sit 
with all my windows open. Nay, even this morn¬ 
ing when I went to visit the outposts at day¬ 
break it was quite mild and pleasant.” 

Earl Percy did his duty scrupulously, and 
there was probably very good ground for 
Dorothy Quincy’s complaint that the morning 
exercises of the soldiers interrupted her beauty 
sleep. 

“ Things here grow more and more serious 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 53 

every day,” confides Percy to a military kins¬ 
man in England under date of November 1, 
1774. “ The Provl Congress at Cambridge have 
now come to resolutions which must be attended 
with fatal consequences to this country. They 
have voted an army of observation of 15,000 
men, & have appointed a committee of 15 who 
are to have the conduct & management of 
the affairs of this Province; but they are par¬ 
ticularly to take care that proper magazines 
are formed, & that their army is supplied with 
everything proper for carrying on war. 

“ They have chose Col. Ward, Col. Preble, & 
Col. Pomeroy, Genls to command this army, 
wh is to be divided for the winter into 3 corps: 
one at Charlestown, wh is just on the other side 
of the harbor from Boston, one at Roxbury, 
wh is just at the opposite end of the neck from 
Boston; & one at Cambridge wh is about 6m 
distant, & wh last place is to be Headquarters. 

“ It was for a long time debated in their 
councils whether they shd not form an encamp¬ 
ment immediately, on some high ground just 
above Roxbury, & within random shot of our 
lines: but as the season was so far advanced the 
other plan was thot more advisable. As they 
only came to this resolution on the 29th of last 
month, they have not as yet assembled. If 
they really shd do so, I take it for granted the 
Genl will think it necessary to deprive them 


54 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

of part of their quarters, at least by burning 
Charlestown and Roxbury directly. 

“ These resols they have kept private, for 
pretty good and substantial reasons, tho’ those 
they have ventured to publish are not very 
moderate, as you may see by the enclosed news¬ 
paper. . . . Gen. Gage (by some conversation 
I have lately had with him on that subject) will, 
I fancy, be very earnest in his solicitations for 
more troops, & indeed, they will be absolutely 
wanted if we are to move into the country next 
spring to enforce the New Acts. For as this 
place is the fountain from whence spring all 
their mad & treasonable resolves & actions, 
it will be nec’y to leave a large corps here, to 
keep the town in order & protect the friends of 
Govt.” 

Obviously, Earl Percy and his superior officer 
had been deceived, just as it was meant they 
should be, into thinking the American force 
much larger than it really was at this time. 

A letter of Percy’s written about Christmas 
time, 1774, is interesting for its mention of 
“ Mr. Paul Revere, a person who is employed 
by the Committee of Correspondence here as a 
messenger.” Little did the writer think that 
Revere would soon, by his intrepidity and skill, 
defeat one of his own expeditions. The last 
Percy letter before the affair of April 19 is dated 
“ Boston Apl 8. 1775,” and begins: 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 55 

“ Things now every day grow more & more 
serious; A Vessel has arrived by accident here 
that has brought us a newspaper in which we 
have the joint address of the two Houses of 
Parliament to His Majesty; this has convinced 
the Rebels (for we may now legally call them 
so) that there is no hopes for them but by sub¬ 
mitting to Parliament; they have therefore 
begun seriously to form their army & .have al¬ 
ready appointed all the Staff. They are every 
day in greater number evacuating this Town 
& have proposed in Congress, either to set 
it on Fire & attack the troops before a reinforce¬ 
ment comes, or to endeavor to starve us. Which 
they mean to adopt time only can show. The 
Genl however, has received no Acct whatever 
from Europe, so that, on our side no steps of 
any kind can be taken as yet. The Weather 
here for the last three weeks has been cold & 
disagreeable, a kind of second Winter. ... I 
still continue to enjoy my Health perfectly & 
have very much surprised the Inhabitants here 
by going constantly all winter with my bosom 
open without a Great Coat. They own however 
that this was a remarkably mild winter.” 

To the Americans the mildness of the winter 
had been a great advantage, for it had enabled 
them to push their plans for resistance faster 
and farther than would otherwise have been 
possible. The Suffolk Resolves had been 


56 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

adopted in September; on the fifth of October 
the members of the Massachusetts Assembly 
appeared at the Court House in Salem with the 
intention of holding their meeting there. But 
they were refused recognition by Gage, where¬ 
upon they resolved themselves into a Pro¬ 
vincial Congress and adjourned to Concord. 
There on October 11, 1774, two hundred and 
sixty members, representing over two hundred 
towns, took their seats and elected John Han¬ 
cock president and Benjamin Lincoln secretary. 
To Gage they promptly sent a message remon¬ 
strating against his hostile attitude. That per¬ 
sonage responded by thundering recriminations 
at them. Shortly afterward, he issued a procla¬ 
mation denouncing the Congress as “an un¬ 
lawful assembly whose proceeding tended to 
ensnare the inhabitants of the Province and 
draw them into perjuries, riots, sedition, trea¬ 
son and rebellion.” 

Then the Congress adjourned to Cambridge, 
and appointed a committee of public safety, 
of which Hancock, Warren and Church were 
the Boston members. Even now, though, there 
was no intention to attack the British troops, 
only to make preparations for self-defence 
should that become necessary. In the Massa¬ 
chusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News Letter 
of February 23, 1775, is published a resolution 
passed at the Provincial Congress in Cambridge 



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>> 

be 


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10 

a; 

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03 

Oh 







OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 57 


on February 17, and recommending that the 
militia drill as much as possible and that “ such 
persons as are skilled in the Manufacturing 
of firearms & bayonets be encouraged dili¬ 
gently to apply themselves thereto for supplying 
such of the inhabitants as shall be deficient.” 
This is signed by John Hancock as president. 

From this time on events crowd. The fifth 
of March was at hand and Dr. Warren craved the 
privilege of delivering the customary address, 
in the Old South Meeting-House, in commem¬ 
oration of the Boston Massacre. The actual 
date having fallen on Sunday, a warrant was 
issued for a town meeting to be held on March 
sixth. The trifling difficulty that town meetings 
were no longer permissible was got over by the 
announcement that this was an adjournment 
of the Port Bill Meeting of the June 17 pre¬ 
ceding ! 

It required considerable nerve to speak in a 
patriotic strain just then, for Gage had now 
under his command eleven regiments of infantry 
and four companies of artillery. He had come 
to the point of using them, too, at least for threat¬ 
ening purposes. Some accounts tell us that the 
aisles of the church were so blocked by soldiers 
when the hour for Warren’s “ Massacre ” 
speech arrived, that the orator of the occasion 
had to enter through a window back of the 
pulpit. It was known indeed that some at- 


58 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


tempt was to be made to interrupt the meet¬ 
ing. But Samuel Adams had resolved to keep 
the peace if it were possible and so, when forty 



INTERIOR OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH 


British officers entered, he asked the civilians 
occupying the front seats to yield their places 
to the visitors. 

At one point in the address an officer thus 



































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 59 

seated held up a few pistol bullets in his open 
palm, but Warren, nothing daunted, dropped 
his handkerchief upon them and went on with 
his address. Yet he alluded feelingly to the 
“ ruin ” all around, and exclaimed in the course 
of his remarks: “ Does some fiend, fierce from 
the depths of hell, with all the rancorous malice 
that the apostate damned can feel, twang her 
destructive bow, and hurl her deadly arrows 
at our breast? No, none of these; but how 
astonishing! It is the hand of Britain that 
inflicts the wound. The arms of George, our 
rightful king, have been employed to shed that 
blood which freely should have flowed at his 
command, when justice or the honor of his 
crown had called his subjects to the field.” 

Pretty fiery words these, and it seems strange, 
looking back, that the peace was not disturbed 
by them. It was afterwards learned that an 
attempt was to have been made to seize the 
persons of Adams, Hancock and Warren, and 
that a certain ensign had been appointed to 
give the signal for the others by throwing 
an egg at Dr. Warren in the pulpit. But the 
young fellow had a fall on the way to the meeting, 
which dislocated his knee and broke the egg, 
— on which account the scheme failed. 

The time for blows was not yet quite ripe. 
From the newspapers of the day, it would ap¬ 
pear indeed, that, outside of a certain limited 


60 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

circle, life in Boston was going on much* as 
usual. Thomas Turner, a dancing master, 
advertises for pupils quite as if no such thing 
as war was at hand, and the public entertain¬ 
ments of the day seem to have been well at¬ 
tended. One advertisement relative to a per¬ 
formance at a certain concert room is of in¬ 
terest. No checking system for wraps had then 
been devised, and as a result we come on 
such a notice as: “Exchanged, At Concert 
Hall, Thursday evening, the 16th of March, 
a long new blue Bath coating Surtout, which 
has a velvet Collar of the same Colour: Whoever 
is possessed of the above is requested the Favor 
to deliver yt to Joe at the British Coffee House, 
or leave it at the Concert Hall, where an old 
short blue surtout remains.” 

Yet this calm was only that which pre¬ 
cedes the storm. Before March had blown 
itself out, a number of drunken British officers 
were hacking the fence before Hancock’s house 
opposite the Common, and making it necessary 
for that gentleman to apply for a guard. The 
time was now close at hand when Hancock 
himself became the admitted object of a certain 
military manoeuvre still remembered by British 
soldiers. 

To describe the Battle of Lexington from an 
American standpoint would not fit well into 
the scope of this chapter, but let us see how 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 61 

Earl Percy regarded it. The official account 
sent by him to General Gage, the next day, was 
written at Boston and runs as follows: 

“ In obedience to your Excells orders I 
marched yesterday morning at 9 o’clk, with the 
first Brigade and 2 field pieces, in order to 
cover the retreat of the Grenadiers & Light 
Infy, on their return from the Expedition to 
Concord. 

“ As all the houses were shut up & there 
was not the appearance of a single inhabitant, 
I could get no intelligence concerning them till 
I had passed Menotomy, where I was informed 
that the Rebels had attacked His Majesty’s 
Troops, who were retiring, overpowered by 
numbers, greatly exhausted & fatigued, & 
having expended almost all their ammunition. 
And about 2 o’clok I met them retiring through 
the Town of Lexington. 

“ I immediately ordered the 2 Field-pieces 
to fire at the Rebels, and drew up the Brigade 
on a height. The shot from the cannon had 
the desired effect, & stopped the Rebels for a 
little time, who immediately dispersed, & en¬ 
deavoured to surround us, being very numerous. 
As it began now to grow pretty late, & we had 
15 miles to retire, & only our 36 rounds I ordered 
the Grenadiers and Lgt Infy to move on first, 
& covered them with my Brigade, sending out 
very strong flanking parties, wh were absolutely 


62 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

necessary, as there was not a stone-wall, or 
house, — though before in appearance evacu¬ 
ated, — from whence the Rebels did not fire 
upon us. 

“ As soon as they saw us begin to retire, they 
pressed very much upon our rear guard, which 
for that reason I relieved every now & then. 
In this manner we retired for 15 miles under an 
incessant fire all round us, till we arrived at 
Charlestown, between 7 & 8 in the even, very 
much fatigued with a march of above 30 miles, 
& having expended almost all our ammunition. 

“ We had the misfortune of losing a good 
many men in the retreat, tho’ nothing like the 
number wh, from many circumstances, I have 
reason to believe were killed of the Rebels. 

“ His Majesty’s Troops during the whole of 
the affair behaved with their usual intrepidity 
& spirit. . . .” 

Unofficially, in a letter to the military friend 
who was one of his regular correspondents in 
England, Percy wrote that of his men sixty-five 
were killed, one hundred and fifty-seven 
wounded, and twenty-one missing. Of the 
officers, one was killed, fifteen were wounded 
and two were taken prisoners. “ During the 
whole affair,” he then went on, “ the Rebels 
attacked us in a very scattered irregular manner, 
but with perseverance & resolution. . . . Who¬ 
ever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 63 


find himself much mistaken. They have men 
amongst them who know very well what they 
are about, having been employed as Rangers 
agnst the Indians & Canadians, & this country 
being much covd with wood, and hilly, is very 
advantageous for their method of fighting. 

“ Nor are several of their men void of a spirit 
of enthusiasm, as we experienced yesterday, 
for many of them concealed themselves in houses, 
& advanced within 10 yds to fire at me & 
other officers, tho’ they were morally certain 
of being put to death themselves in an instant. 
You may depend upon it, that as the Rebels 
have now had time to prepare, they are deter¬ 
mined to go thro’ with it, nor will the insur¬ 
rection here turn out so despicable as it is per¬ 
haps imagined at home. For my part, I never 
believed, I confess, that they wd have attacked 
the King’s troops, or have had the perseverance 
I found in them yesterday. I myself fortunately 
escaped very well, having only had a horse 
shot. . . 

Lord Dartmouth, secretary of state for the 
Colonial department, was highly pleased with 
Percy’s gallant conduct on this occasion. To 
the Earl’s father, the Duke of Northumberland, 
he wrote: “ Lord Dartmouth presents his 
compts to the Duke of Northd & has the honor 
to send His Grace two extracts from private 
letters from Boston, wh have been communi- 


64 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

cated to him. . . . ‘ Ld Percy has acquired 
great honor, he was in every place of danger, 
cool, deliberate, & wise in all his orders.’ . . . 
4 Ld Percy commanded and behaved with dis¬ 
tinguished honor, & tho’ he was continually 
in a shower of bullets, & an object that was 
much aimed at on horseback, came off unhurt.’ 
Blackheath, 11 June, 1775.” 

As a reward for his gallantry, Percy was made 
“ a Major-General in America,” the commission 
being signed “ at our Court at St. James, 22nd 
June, 1775.” He led his men with spirit at the 
attack upon Fort Washington, in November, 
1776, but, from an inability to agree wdth Howe, 
he took steps, in 1777, to obtain a recall. Two 
years later, he was divorced from his first wife, 
Lord Bute’s daughter, and the same year he 
married again, — happily this time, and lived 
to a ripe old age. He seems in many ways the 
ablest soldier as well as the most gracious 
personality, of all the officers of the king w r ho 
were stationed at Boston. 


CHAPTER V 


THE SPRIGHTLY CHRONICLES OF JOHN ANDREWS 

A T the very time when Earl Percy was 
entertaining Boston Tories in his house 
at the northerly corner of Winter and 
Tremont streets a man who was later to occupy 
that house was writing from his home on School 
Street a series of letters in which may be found 
the most racy description available of the Boston 
of just that period. John Andrews — for that 
was this man’s name — was a prosperous mer¬ 
chant with a good deal at stake, and he was 
by no means hot for war when he began, in 
1772, to send to his brother-in-law in Phila¬ 
delphia his impressions of the trend of things. 
But, as the years went on and the insolent en¬ 
croachments of England increased he, as an 
honest man, came to range himself squarely 
on the side of the patriots. Yet he never gives 
a warped or one-sided view of the situation, 
and his narrative is relieved by many a touch 
of humor. In its way and for the limited period 
with which it deals, these letters are almost as 


66 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

enlightening as is Sewall’s Diary concerning 
his time. I therefore give them here at some 
length. 

Andrews believed in civic progress; with 
undisguised delight he writes: “ March 15, 1773, 
our very respectable Town meeting have voted 
to have 300 lamps properly to light this town 
— a thing I have long wished for.” The next 
day he adds to his journal letter: “ I suppose 
you must have seen reprinted in your papers 
the messages passing to and from our Governor 
and house of Representatives respecting the 
most important matter of right of parliament 
to tax America, which have been very lengthy 
on both sides, frequently filling up near a whole 
paper. We have had an innovation here never 
known before — a Drum or Rout given by the 
Admiral past Saturday evening, which did not 
break up till 2 or 3 o’clock on Sunday morning, 
their chief amusement being playing cards.” 
How Sewall would have quoted Scripture after 
recording that! But John Andrews, character¬ 
istically, presents his gossip without comment, 
and runs it in, with no attempt at easy transition, 
hard on the heels of his politics. 

The sensation aroused by the discharge upon 
Boston of the Hutchinson letters is very inter¬ 
esting as reflected in this contemporary 
letter: 

“ June 4, 1773, The minds of people are 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 67 

greatly agitated on account of some original 
letters that have been sent from London to the 
General Court that were wrote some three or 
four years since by the Governor and Lieutenant 
Governor and Auchmuty &C., very much to 
the prejudice of the province, and recommending 
or rather urging y e necessity of all ye measures 
which have been lately taken with us: also 
pointing out the absolute necessity of taking 
off five or six of the leaders in the opposition, 
such as Otis, Adams &C enumerating their 
several names; without which, they say, it is 
impracticable to accomplish their plans. The 
Lieutenant Governor strongly recommends in 
one of his letters his son Daniel as Secretary 
for y e province. Thus much has transpired 
respecting them as they are enjoined not to be 
published.” 

Poor Hutchinson! These were private letters 
which he had written to friends in England, 
and which, having by some means fallen into 
the hands of Benjamin Franklin, — then agent 
of Massachusetts in London, — were sent by 
him to Hancock. The latter was quick to see 
in the letters a chance to fan to fever heat the 
smouldering resentment towards the Governor, 
and had given all possible publicity to the un¬ 
fortunate remarks therein. The letters were 
printed in Boston June 16, 1773, and as a re¬ 
sult of what the Americans insisted on reading 


68 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

into them a formal petition was sent to the 
king for the removal of their odious writer. 

The militia had now come to the point of 
training regularly on the Common, and as 
Andrews sat writing his letter his eyes were 
“ almost every moment taken off with the agree¬ 
able sight of our militia companies marching 
past. . . . Were you to see them you’d scarcely 
believe your eyes, they are so strangely meta¬ 
morphos’d. From making the most despicable 
appearance they now vie with the best troops 
in his majesties service, being dressed all in 
blue uniforms, with drums and fifes to each 
company dressed in white uniforms trimmed in 
the most elegant manner; with a company of 
Grenadiers in red with every other apparatus, 
that equal any regular Company I ever saw 
both in regard to appearance and discipline, 
having a grand band of musick consisting of 
eight that play nearly equal to that of the 64th. 
What crowns all is the Cadet company, being 
perfectly compleat and under the best order 
you can conceive of, with a band of musick 
likewise, that perform admirably well. What 
with these and Paddock’s company of artillery 
make ye compleatest militia in America; . . . 
In addition to all this the Town House is fitted 
up in the most elegant manner, with the whole 
of the outside painted of a stone color, which 
gives it a fine appearance.” 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 69 


Enter now the dramatis personce of the famous 
Tea Drama! . . . “ Arrived Saturday evening 
. . . the detested Tea. What will be done with 
it, I can't say: but I tremble for y e consequences 
should y e consignees still persist in their ob¬ 
stinacy and not consent to reship it. They have 
softened down so far as to offer it to the care 
of the Council or the town till such times as they 
hear from their friends in England, but am 
perswaded, from the present dispositions of 
y e people that no other alternative will do, than 
to have it immediately sent back to London 
again. . . . Y e bells are ringing for a general 
muster, and a third vessel is now arriv’d in 
Nantasket road. Handbills are stuck up, call¬ 
ing upon Friends! Citizens! and Country¬ 
men! ” 

Several of these handbills are in possession 
of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and 
one which was reproduced in Draper’s Gazette 
of November 3, 1773, reads as follows: 

“ To the Freemen of this and the neighboring 
towns: 

“ Gentlemen, — You are desired to meet 
at Liberty Tree, this day at twelve o’clock at 
noon; then and there to hear the persons to 
whom the tea shipped by the East India Com¬ 
pany is consigned, make a public resignation 
of their office as consignees, upon oath; and 


70 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

also swear that they will reship any teas that 
may be consigned to them by said Company 
by the first vessel sailing for London. 

“ O. C. Secretary. 

“ [U^Show us the man that dare take this 
down.” 

On December 1, 1773, Mr. Andrews writes: 
“ Having just return’d from Fire Club, and 
am now, in company with the two Miss Masons 
and Mr. Williams of your place, at Sam. Eliot’s, 
who has been dining with him at Col°. Han¬ 
cock’s and acquaints me that Mr. Palfrey sets 
off Express for New York and Philadelphia 
at five o’clock tommorrow morning, to com¬ 
municate y e transactions of this town respecting 
the tea. . . . The consignees have all taken 
their residence at the Castle, as they still per¬ 
sist in their refusal to take the tea back. Its 
not only y e town, but the country are unanimous 
against the landing it, and at Monday and 
Tuesday Meetings, they attended to the number 
of some hundreds from all the neighboring towns 
within a dozen miles.” 

The next letter, dated December 18, 1773, 
was all worn to shreds when the editor of the 
series, Winthrop Sargent, transcribed it. Its 
battered condition was due, doubtless, to its 
having been passed from one curious hand to 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 71 

another. The matter in it is the most extraor¬ 
dinary to be found in any original document 
of American history. 

“ . . . Such is the calm composure of the 
people that a stranger would hardly think that 
ten thousand pounds sterling of the East India 
Company’s tea was destroy’d the night or rather 
evening before last, yet it’s a serious truth; and 
if yours together with the other Southern prov¬ 
inces, should rest satisfied with their quota 
being stor’d, poor Boston will feel the whole 
weight of ministerial vengeance. However, its 
the opinion of most people that we stand an 
equal chance now, whether troops are sent 
in consequence of it or not; whereas, had it 
been stored, we should inevitably have had ’em, 
— to enforce the sale of it. 

“ The affair was transacted with the greatest 
regularity and dispatch. Mr. Rotch, finding 
he exposed himself, not only to the loss of his 
ship but for y e value of the tea, in case he sent 
her back without it [the tea], without a clearance 
from the custom house as ye Admiral kept a 
ship in readiness to make a seizure of it when¬ 
ever it should sail under those circumstances; 
therefore declined complying with his former 
promises, and absolutely declared his vessel 
should not carry it without a proper clearance 
could be procured or he to be indemnified for 
the value of her: — when a general muster 


72 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

was assembled, from this and all y e neighboring 
towns, to the number of five or six thousand, 
at 10 o’clock Thursday morning in the Old 
South Meeting House, where they passed a 
unanimous vote that the tea should go out of 
the harbour that afternoon, and sent a committee 
with Mr. Rotch to y e Custom house to demand 
a clearance, which the collector told ’em was 
not in his power to give, without the duties being 
first paid. They then sent Mr. Rotch to Milton 
to ask a pass from y® Governor, who sent for 
answer that ‘ consistent to the rules of govern¬ 
ment and his duty to the King he could not 
grant one without they produced a previous 
clearance from the office.’ 

“ By the time he returned with this message 
the candles were light in the house, and upon 
reading it, such prodigious shouts were made 
that induced me, while drinking tea at home, 
to go out and know the cause of it. The house 
was so crowded I could go no farther than the 
porch, when I found the moderator was just 
declaring the meeting to be dissolved, which 
caused another general shout, outdoors and in, 
and three cheers. What with that and the 
consequent noise of breaking up the meeting, 
you’d have thought that the inhabitants of 
the infernal regions had broke loose. For my 
part, I went contentedly home and finished 
my tea, but was soon informed what was going 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 73 

forward: but still, not crediting it without 
occular demonstration, I went and was satis¬ 
fied. They mustered, I’m told on Fort Hill, 
to the number of about two hundred, and pro¬ 
ceeded two by two to Griffin’s wharf, where . . . 
before nine o’clock in the evening every chest 
from on board the three vessels was knocked 
to pieces and flung over the sides. They say 
the actors were Indians from Narragansett. 
Whether they were or not, to a transient ob¬ 
server they appeared as such, being cloathed 
in Blankets with the heads muffled, and copper 
color’d countenances, being each armed with 
a hatchet or axe and pair of pistols. . . . Should 
not have troubled you with this by this post 
hadn’t I thought you would be glad of a more 
particular account of so important a transaction, 
than you could have obtained by common 
report. 

“ Sunday evening, I give you joy of your 
easy riddance of the banefull herb; being just 
informed by the arrival of the post that its 
gone from whence it came. You may bless 
your stars that you have not a H—n and board 
of Commissioners resident with you. I forgot 
to acquaint you last evening that a brig be¬ 
longing to one of the consignees is at shore on 
ye back of Cape Cod, drove thither by a storm 
last Fryday week who has the last quota of 
Tea for this place, being 58 chests, which com- 


74 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

pleats the 400. — Am informed some Indians 
were met on y e road to Plimouth, which is 
almost fifty miles this side of Cape Cod. Its 
unlucky that brig has y e lamps on board 
for illuminating our streets. Am sorry if 
they are lost, as we shall be deprived of 
their benefit this winter in consequence of 
it.” 

(The lamps were not lost. John Rowe’s 
Diary for March 3, 1774, records: “Last 
evening the Lamps were Lighted for the first 
time — they Burnt Tolerable Well.”) 

“April 14, 1774. Have enclosed you the 
anniversary oration delivered by Col. Hancock. 
Its generally allowed to be a good composition 
and asserted to be his own production both 
spirited and nervous.” 

As a matter of fact this oration was written 
by Samuel Adams. That wise “master of the 
puppets ” saw very clearly that it would avail 
more to the cause if fiery arguments seemed for 
once to proceed from a rich and well-born 
gentleman like Hancock. (On another occasion 
Hancock read as his own a speech which had 
been written for him by Theophilus Parsons 
and, when he concluded, one of his friends 
hastily took the manuscript from him that the 
handwriting might not be observed. Hancock 
appears to have lent himself without scruple 
to these little deceptions, very likely because 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 75 

he really believed that the “ salvation of the 
nation ” rested upon him, and that any such 
expedient was, therefore, justifiable.) 

General Gage, upon his arrival in Boston, 
was given a very hearty welcome, — chiefly, 
as it would seem, because he. was to supersede 
Hutchinson. Andrews describes the affair thus: 
“ Our Militia was yesterday mustered for the 
reception of General Gage, who was pro¬ 
claimed Governor, amid the acclamations of 
the people. He expressed himself as sensible of 
the unwelcome errand he came upon, but . . . 
would do all in his power to serve us. Whether 
they were only words or not of course can’t say; 
am a little doubtfull. There was an elegant 
entertainment provided for him at Faneuil 
Hall, and after a number of toasts gave by him 
in which the prosperity of the town of Boston 
was included, he gave Governor Hutchinson, 
which was received by a general hiss. . . . 
The damned arch traitor, as he is called, is 
very much chagrined at being superseded, as 
its only last Thursday when he gave orders 
for repairs to his houses in town and country, 
and upon the workman’s suggestions that he 
would be succeeded soon, he said it was like 
many other reports that prevailed, for that he 
had all the satisfaction he could wish for or 
expect from home and every part of his conduct 
was entirely approved of, and left to his option 


76 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

whether to enjoy the Government or go to 
England.” 

This spectacle of a workman hinting to a 
royal governor that he has come about to the 
end of his rope is delicious, I think. It shows 
that the day of democracy had very nearly 
dawned in America. 

They that dance must pay the piper, however, 
and Boston was to be charged a very high price 
for her late contumacy in the matter of the tea. 
John Andrews records gloomily on June 12, 
1774: “ They intend to deprive us of all trade 
in the future. . . . Our wharfs are entirely 
deserted; not a topsail vessel to be seen either 
there or in the harbor, save the ships of 
war and transport, the latter of which land 
their passengers in this towm tommorrow. Four 
regiments are already arrived and four more 
expected. How they are to be disposed of can’t 
say. Its gave out that if the General Court 
dont provide barracks for ’em they are to be 
quartered on the inhabitants in the fall: if so 
I am determined not to stay.” 

A few months after this Andrews describes 
categorically what has come to be known as the 
Erskine incident, — the shocking conduct of 
fifteen officers “ at a house towards New Bos¬ 
ton improved by one of the Miss Erskines (a 
family noted for their hospitality and kindness 
to strangers, in admitting all comers to their 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 77 

b—d and board),”— an offence against decency 
which was promptly reported to Earl Percy, 
“ who expressed himself much displeased with 
the officers’ conduct, and said he would take 
effectual means to prevent the like behavior 
in future.” 

Quite a Sewall touch may be found, later 
in this same letter (of August 1, 1774), wherein 
a wedding is described at which Andrews and 
his wife “ Rutliy ” were present. “ We were 
entertained with a very pretty collation, con¬ 
sisting of cold ham, cold roast beef, cake cheese 
&c.” Then wdthout any break Andrews con¬ 
tinues: “ Among the innumerable hardships 
we suffer, that of not being suffered to convey 
any sort of merchandize across the ferry is 
not the least; whereby we are necessitated to 
receive every kind of goods from Marblehead 
or Salem via Cambridge, which adds one third 
to the length of the way, wdiich is attended 
with the expence of eight dollars a load for 
about 28 or 30 miles, or 40 ' lawful money 
at y e lowest rate it is done for. It is no un¬ 
common thing to hear the carriers and wag¬ 
goners, when they pass a difficult place in y e 
road, to whip their horses and damn Lord 
North alternately: — ... I think myself well 
off to take cash enough to supply the necessary 
demands of my family and you may as w r ell 
ask a man for the teeth out of his head as to 


78 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

request the payment of money which he owes 
you. . . . Notwithstanding which there seems 
to be ease contentment and perfect composure 
in the countenance of almost every person you 
meet in the streets, which conduct very much 
perplexes the Governor and others, our lords 
and masters, that they are greatly puzzled and 
know not what to do or how to act, as they 
expected very different behavior from us. I 
hope we shall have resolution and virtue enough 
to observe a steady course and not give them 
the least advantage by any misconduct of our 
own, much more to quiet any dissensions among 
ourselves that may tend to disturb that harmony 
so necessary to the welfare of us all. 

“ August 11. . . . The ultimate wish and 
desire of the high Government party is to get 
Samuel Adams out of the way, when they think 
they may accomplish every of their plans: 
but however some may despise him he has 
certainly very many friends. For not long 
since some persons (their names unknown) 
sent and asked his permission to build him a 
new barn, the old one being decayed, which 
was executed in a few days. A second sent 
to ask leave to repair his house, which was 
thoroughly effected soon. A third sent to beg 
the favor of him to call at a taylor’s shop and 
be measured for a suit of cloathes and chuse his 
cloth, which were finished and sent home for 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 79 

his acceptance. A fourth presented him with 
a new whig, a fifth with a new Hatt, a sixth 
with six pair of the best silk hose, a seventh 
with six pair of fine thread ditto, a eighth with 
six pair shoes, and a ninth modestly enquired 
of him whether his finances want rather low 
than otherwise. He replyed it was true that was 
the case but he was very indifferent about these 
matters so that his poor abilities was of any 
service to the Publick; upon which the Gentle¬ 
men obliged him to accept of a purse containing 
about 15 or 20 Johannes. I mention this to 
show you how much he is esteemed here. They 
value him for his good sense, great abilities, 
amazing fortitude, noble resolution, and un¬ 
daunted courage; being firm and unmoved 
at all the various reports which were propagated 
in regard to his being taken up and sent home 
notwithstanding he had repeated letters from 
his friends, both in England as well as here, to 
keep out of the way.” 

The gift of clothes to which Andrews here 
refers was for the purpose of making Adams 
decent for his journey to the Continental Con¬ 
gress at Philadelphia. 

“ Like the African habituated to slavery, I 
begin now to be a little reconciled to a loss of 
business and an inactive state of life,” writes 
Andrews humorously under date of August 16, 
1774. This letter is further interesting by reason 


80 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

of its account of an important meeting of “ the 
Cadet company at Faneuil Hall. Col°. Hancock 
communicated to them a letter he had received 
from the Secretary, by order of the Governor, 
dismissing him from any further service as Cap¬ 
tain of that Company: when they passed a vote 
to return their Colors to his Excellency, and 
acquaint him that they should not in future 
esteem themselves as his body guard; as also 
to deliver their Equipage, Musical instruments 
&c into Colonel Hancock’s keeping till some 
future time, being determined not to appear 
under any other leader while he lives, as by 
the establishment of the Company they have 
a right to choose their own officers.” 

Even the rather timorous John Andrews 
is beginning now to see that a clash of more or 
less seriousness is inevitable. On August 20 
he writes: “ When I reflect on the unhappy 
situation we are in I can’t but be uneasy less 
the trade of the town should never be rein¬ 
stated again: but, on the other hand, when I 
consider that our future welfare depends al¬ 
together upon a steady and firm adherence 
to the common cause, I console myself with 
the thoughts that, if, after using every effort 
in our power, we are finally obliged to submit, 
we shall leave this testimony behind us, that, 
not being able to stem the stream, we were of 
necessity borne down by the torrent. You can 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 81 


have no just conception,” he naively continues, 
“ how sensibly I am affected in my business. 
If you’ll believe me (though I have got near 
two thousand sterling out in debts and about 
as much more in stock) I have not received 
above eighty or ninety pounds Lawful money 
from both resources for above two months past; 
though, previous to the port’s being shut, I 
thought it an ordinary day’s work if I did not 
carry home from 20 to 40 dollars every evening! ” 

An interesting glimpse of the military dis¬ 
play in which the British then in Boston in¬ 
dulged is afforded by this passage in the letters. 

“ At sunset last evening I amused myself 
with a walk in the Mall, and could not but ad¬ 
mire at the subservient honors paid his Excel¬ 
lency, being attended by five or six field officers 
and two or three aid de camps with eight orderly 
sergents at an awful distance in the rear: para¬ 
ding up the street from Sheriff Greenleaf’s he 
met with ’Squire Edson (a mere plowjogger 
to look at) one of the new-fangled refugee coun¬ 
cilors, whose townsmen at Bridgewater, after 
some exhortation, thought proper to send him 
to Coventry, nor would they even deign to sing 
y e psalm after his reading it, being a deacon 
of the parish, such is the detestation in which 
they are all held that refuse to resign. His 
Excellency, after about ten minutes earnest 
conversation with him, proceeded to Earl Percy’s 


82 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

who occupies a house at the head of Winter 
street, belonging to Inspector Williams. While 
he went in his attendants of high and low rank 
stood waiting at the gate like so many menial 
slaves. . . . 

“ September the 1st. Yesterday in the 
afternoon two hundred and eighty men were 
draughted from the severall regiments in the 
common and furnished with a day’s provision 
each, to be in readiness to march early in the 
morning. Various were the conjectures re¬ 
specting their destination, but this morning the 
mystery is unravelled for a sufficient number 
of boats from the Men of War and transports 
took ’em on board between 4 and 5 o’clock this 
morning, and proceeding up Mistick river 
landed them at the back of Bob Temple’s house, 
from whence they proceeded to the magazine 
[The Old Pow r der House], situated between that 
town and Cambridge, conducted by Judge 
Oliver, Sheriff Phips and Joseph Goldthwait, 
and are now at this time (8 o’clock) taking away 
the pow^der from thence, being near three 
hundred barrells, belonging to the Province, 
which they are lodging in Temple’s barn, for 
conveniency to be transported to the Castle, 
I suppose. . . . September 3, As a continua¬ 
tion of the other sheet must observe to you that 
between three and four thousand [of our men] 
remained upon the field in Cambridge till night, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 83 

when they peaceably returned each one to his 
own house, but not till they had procured a 
written acknowledgement from Governor Oliver 
that he would give up his seat in Councill. . . . 
They also procured a written obligation from 



OLD POWDER HOUSE, SOMERVILLE 


Sheriff Phips . . . that he would not act offi¬ 
cially in any case upon the principal of y e 
new establishment. It is worthy remark that 
Judge Lee observed to ’em, after he had made 
his resignation that he never saw so large a 
number of people together and preserve so 
peaceable order before in his life. . . . Sunday 
September the 4th The Commander in Chief 
asked the Lieutenant Governor how many the 



84 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

mob consisted of that were before his house. 
He told him about four thousand, but they were 
not a mob by any means, but consisted of the 
leading men in the county and reputable sub¬ 
stantial farmers.” 

Upon this incident, at the house which was 
afterwards the home of Elbridge Gerry and 
which is now a shrine for pilgrims because of its 
associations with James Russell Lowell, we 
may well pause for a moment. It is certainly 
one of the most remarkable chronicled by 
Andrews. For Thomas Oliver was a great 
deal of a person and by his marriage to Elizabeth 
Vassall he was intimately connected with all 
the leading Cambridge loyalists. Until 1774 
Oliver had had little to do with politics and 
his appointment by the Crown to the post of 
lieutenant-governor, in that year, was at the 
suggestion of Hutchinson, who probably thought 
he would be unobjectionable to the people. 
But, as lieutenant-governor, he was also pre¬ 
siding officer of the so-called “ Mandamus 
Council,” a body which was the special object 
of patriot resentment. The people were resolved 
Oliver should resign the post. He, accordingly, 
did so after the following form: 

“ Cambridge, September 2, 1774. 

“ I, Thomas Oliver, being appointed by his 
majesty to a seat at the Council Board, upon 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 85 


and in conformity to the Act of Parliament, 
entitled An act for the better regulation of the 
Provinces of Massachusetts Bay, which, being 
a manifest infringement of the Charter rights 
and privileges of the people, I do hereby, in 
conformity to the commands of the body of 
the County now convened, most solemnly prom¬ 
ise and engage, as a man of honor and a Chris- 
tain that I never will hereafter upon any terms 
whatever accept a seat at said board on the 
present novel and oppressive plan of govern¬ 
ment. My house at Cambridge being sur¬ 
rounded by about four thousand people, in 
compliance w T ith their command I sign my 
name 

“ Thomas Oliver.” 

Governor Gage appears to have now decided 
that the time had come for him to move into 
Boston. On September 8 Andrews writes: 
“ As the Governor, Commissioners, and indeed 
all the Governmental gentry have taken up 
their residence in town for the Winter, the 59th 
regiment is expected from Salem immediately. 
They have fixed the colors and laid out the 
ground for their encampment at y e side of y e 
Neck near y e Windmill. Yesterday, between 
one and two o’clock p. m. the General, with a 
large Parade of attendants, took a survey of 
the skirts of the town; more particularly that 


86 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

part opposite the country shore. Tis supposed 
they intend to erect Batteries there to prevent 



MILITARY HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL GAGE 


any incursions of the country people from that 
quarter, having effectually secured the Neck 

































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 87 

by the disposition of the Field Pieces; and their 
caution extends so far as to have a guard patrole 
Roxbury streets at all hours of the night, as 
well as another posted at Charlestown ferry 
every night, after the evening gun fires.” 

A vivid picture of the treatment commonly 
meted out to the Tories is found in Andrews’ 
letter of September 9. 

“ Colonel Frye of Salem . . . has resigned 
all his posts of honor and profit. Indeed neces¬ 
sity obliged him to as he and his family were 
in danger of starving; for the country people 
would not sell him any provisions, and the in¬ 
habitants, however well disposed any might 
be to him, dare not procure him any. . . . The 
present temper of the people throughout the 
Province is such that they won’t suffer a tory 
to remain anywhere among ’em without making 
an ample recantation of his principles; and 
those who presume as to be so obstinate as not 
to comply, are obliged to take up residence 
in this city of refuge. . . .” 

Petty attacks made upon citizens by groups 
of soldiers, and the great difficulty experienced 
by General Gage in finding workmen to build 
barracks for his men occupy Andrews’ atten¬ 
tion throughout the greater part of his Septem¬ 
ber letters. Then, on the twenty-sixth, he 
writes: “ Sometime this day the Governor had 
a conference with Col. Hancock, requesting 


88 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

him to use his influence with the committee 
to reconsider their vote respecting the barracks. 
The Colonel observed to him that he had taken 
every possible measure to distress us: . . . He 
likewise told him that he had been threatened 
and apprehended his person was in danger, as 
it had been gave out that he deserved to be 
hanged: upon which the Governor told him 
that he might have a guard, if he chose it, to 
attend him night and day. You will naturally 
conclude that he declined accepting. . . . 

“ September 27th. At four o’clock yesterday 
afternoon, the workmen all packed up their 
tools and left the barracks, frames &c; so that 
I am apprehensive we in the town will feel ill 
effects of it, as it has been given out that the 
troops will force quarters next month, if bar¬ 
racks are not provided for ’em; neither should 
I blame them for so doing, as the nights are 
so cold already that it’s impossible for ’em to 
sleep comfortable under their slight canvas 
tents. And as to empty houses, now since we 
have got so many refugees among us, there is 
not half sufficient to hold what troops we have 
got already here. After the carpenters had 
left off work, the General sent Col. Robinson 
and Major Sheaffe to Mr. Hancock to let him 
know [that] if they would proceed with the 
barracks, he [Gage] could suffer anything to 
be transported within the limits of the harbour, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 89 

under the sanction of King’s stores; but all 
would not avail, — as they very justly sup¬ 
posed, that after the work was compleated he 
would withdraw the indulgence, as he deems 
it. . . ” 

A delightful snap-shot of Yankee character 
is given us by Andrews under the date of October 
first. 

“ It’s common for the Soldiers to fire at a 
target fixed in the stream at the bottom of the 
Common. A countryman stood by a few days 
ago and laughed very heartily at the whole 
regiment’s firing and not one being able to hit 
it. The officer observed him and asked why 
he laughed ? Perhaps you’ll be affronted if I 
tell you replied the countryman. No, he would 
not, he said. Why then says he, I laugh to see 
how awkward they fire. Why, I’ll be bound I 
hit it ten times running. Ah! will you, reply’d 
the officer; come try: Soldiers, go and bring 
five of the best guns and load ’em for this honest 
man. Why, you need not bring so many: let 
me have any one that comes to hand reply’d 
the other but I choose to load myself. He 
accordingly loaded and asked the officer where 
he should fire ? He replied to the right — when 
he pulled trigger and dropped the ball as near 
the right as possible. The officer was amazed 
and said he could not do it again, as that was 
only by chance. He loaded again. Where shall 


90 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

I fire ? To the left — when he performed as well 
as before. Come! once more, says the officer. 
— He prepared the third time, — where shall 
I fire naow ? In the center. He took aim and 
the ball went as exact in the middle as possible. 
The officers as well as soldiers stared, and tho’t 
the Devil was in the man. Why, says the 
countryman, I’ll tell you naow . I have got a 
boy at home that will toss up an apple and shoot 
out all the seeds as it’s coming down! . . . 

“ One more anecdote, Bill, and I’ll close this 
barren day. When the 59th regiment came 
from Salem and were drawn up on each side 
of the Neck a remarkable tall countryman, near 
eight feet high, strutted between ’em at the head 
of his waggon, looking very sly and contemptu¬ 
ously on one side and t’other; which attracted 
the notice of the whole regiment. — Ay, ay, 
says he, you don’t know what boys we have 
got in the country. I am near nine feet high 
and one of the smallest among ’em.” 

Poor Gage was made miserable by such 
countrymen as that. Their resourcefulness 
and touchiness was amazing, and, of course, 
they took a wicked joy in harrying him. “ They 
are continually sending Committees upon one 
errand or another,” records John Andrews, 
“ which has caused the Governor to say that he 
can do very well with the Boston Selectmen, 
but the damned country committees plague his 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 91 

soul out, as they are very obstinate and hard 
to be satisfied. This day (October 5, 1774) a 
deputation of twelve came to town with a very 
spirited remonstrance from the body of Worces¬ 
ter County, which consists of five and forty 
towns; where they have incorporated seven 
regiments consisting of a thousand men each, 
chose their officers and turn out twice a week 
to perfect themselves in the military art — which 
are called minute men, i. e. to be ready at a 
minute’s warning with a fortnight’s provision, 
and ammunition and arms. ... At Newbury 
bridge they have got an Old Man fixed with a 
drum, who, as soon as he observes a govern¬ 
ment man enter, parades with his drum beating 
and proclaims through the town, ‘ a tory come 
to town.’ 

“ October 14 A committee from the provin¬ 
cial Congress waited upon the Governor this 
afternoon, with an address or remonstrance. 
He treated them very politely but would not allow 
it to be read to him. He told them he would 
consider whether he could admit of an address 
from a provincial congress. Colonel Lee of 
Marblehead, their chairman, told him that 
admit or not admit, times were such now that 
something must be done and that it was highly 
necessary that they should be heard and re¬ 
garded. Upon which his Excellency told him 
he would take it as a favor if he would leave it 


92 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

for his perusal, and he would endeavor to give 
them all the satisfaction in his power consistent 
with his duty to his Majesty. 



PROVINCE HOUSE, WHERE GENERAL GAGE LIVED WHILE IN BOSTON 


“ October 25. By a vessel just arrived from 
Bristol, we have accounts rather more favorable 
than heretofore, as they now begin to view the 





OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 93 

Port Bill in its true light, and have opened 
subscriptions, both in London and Bristol, 
for the relief of this town. Am told that one 
alderman in the former city put down five 
hundred pounds sterling — which circumstance 
has served in a great measure to compose the 
minds of the people here, as one third of the 
inhabitants, by reason of things looking very 
dark lately, are in pursuit of houses in the 
country, in order to remove with their families. 

. . . Am determined for my own part not to 
think of anything of the kind but to stay here 
as long as I can get provisions to eat and can 
go and come where I please. . . . We have had 
so remarkable a fine season that many bushes 
that had lost their leaves are rebudded again 
— and in some Gardens in town they have trees 
that are in blossom; this, and several pre¬ 
ceding days, have been as warm as in 
June.” 

The next entry of interest to us is that of 
" December 18th. The Somerset of 74 guns 
arrived this forenoon, being the last of the 
squadron that came out with the Scarborough.” 
Then, on December 25, — which, it is inter¬ 
esting to note, John Andrews does not call 
Christmas day, — “ The packet has brought 
credentials that dub William Pepperell a Night, 
for his steady adherence to the Government 
side in not resigning his Councellorship — a 


94 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

bauble he has been seeking after a long time, 
and could not procure it when at home, be¬ 
cause not worth an estate of three thousand 
a year — the most he could presume upon 
being seven hundred.” 

Pepperell’s house — then worth “ seven hun¬ 
dred 5 ’ ?— is still standing in Kittery, Maine; 
from this mansion it was that he escaped to 
Boston after the people of his own county 
(York), had passed, on November 16, 1774, 
a resolution in which he was declared to have 
“ forfeited the confidence and friendship of 
all true friends of American liberty, and ought 
to be detested by all good men.” Pepperell 
was a grandson of the hero of Louisburg and 
had married the beautiful Elizabeth Royall, 
daughter of Isaac Royall, who built the fine old 
mansion which still stands, bearing his name, 
in Medford, Massachusetts. Lady Pepperell, 
it is sad to note, died of small-pox on the vessel 
which was bearing her and Sir William from 
Boston to the more congenial soil of England, 
directly after John Andrews wrote the letter 
just quoted. Her husband was allowed £500 
annually by the home government and treated 
with much deference. He was the good friend 
of all refugees from America, and entertained 
hospitably at his pleasant home. He died in 
Portman Square, London, December, 1816, 
at the age of seventy. He appears to have been 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 95 

sincerely devoted to the king’s cause from the 
first, and so does not merit the anathema often 
bestowed upon him as a turncoat. 

John Andrews begins quite blithely the year 
now at hand: “ January 1, 1775. With wishing 
you a happy new year, Bill, I must add my 
wishes that we may have a less troublesone 
year than last and that Great Britain may see 
her error in distressing the Colonies, and restore 
to them their just rights and liberties; that we 
may once more see that harmony prevail which 
formerly used to subsist between them.” By 
the next day, however, Andrews seems to have 
concluded that there was very little chance 
of harmony, for he writes: “ This afternoon, 
an officer of the 10th regiment, one Dunlap, an 
ensign, being warm or rather frantic with liquor, 
stopped a man who drives a waggon between 
Salem and here, in union street, and ordered 
him to turn out of the way for him to walk on. 
The waggoner refused; he made no more 
words but struck across the face with a hickory 
stick, upon which the waggoner closed in upon 
him, took his stick from him and beat him 
pretty decently. . . . January 4, The Discon¬ 
tent of the Soldiers has become so general that 
they have doubled all the guards and made one 
or two regiments lay under arms, as well as that 
they have fixed a field-piece in the Centre of the 
town to be fired in case of a mutiny, whereby all 


96 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

those that are not concerned in it are to appear 
under arms.” 

“ This morning we had quite a novel sight,” 
writes Andrews, with real journalistic enthu¬ 
siasm, on January 6. “ The Sailors belonging 

to the Transports consisting of about 30 or 
40 dressed in white shirts ornamented with 
various colored ribbons disposed crossways on 
their bodies with knots and garlands, paraded 
each side of a long rope dragging a plow, ac¬ 
companied with one compleatly tarred and 
feathered, representing a he Devil, together 
with a She Devil and an attendant, each fur¬ 
nished with a bag to collect money, stopping 
every person of genteel appearance to request 
a remembrance of old England, wishing ’em 
a merry Christmas. The former looked as 
compleately like a deveil as the most fertile 
invention could form an idea of or picture. 
The General gave them two half Joes, and it 
is supposed that they collected at least forty 
guineas. The design of it was to celebrate 
the twelfth night or the breaking up of Christ¬ 
mas.” 

Those in high places were glad enough to 
have the soldiers amuse themselves. For the 
poor fellows were dying at an alarming rate. 
“ Scarce a day passes without three or four 
soldiers’ funerals,” Andrews records, “ a spot 
of ground at the bottom of the common being 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 97 

allotted for them, which they have improved for 
upwards of a hundred already.” 

The Queen’s birthday — January 18—was 
duly celebrated by the army and painstakingly 
described by our indefatigable letter-writer: 
“ In the afternoon a large company of officers 
assembled at the Coffee House, with a band 
of Musick in the balcony, and the King’s own 
grenadiers upon the opposite side of the street; 
when upon every toast they gave three chears, 
after which one of their number came out to the 
balcony and announced it to the Commander 
of the Granadiers, who thereupon ordered 
a volley to be fired, when the music struck up 
and after that succeeded the drums. This they 
continued till near nine o’clock. Among their 
toasts was . . . Confusion to the American 
Army, — Lord North — with a number of such 
exasperating toasts, which the populace which 
were gathered upon the occasion took no notice 
of, save the last, when they gave a general hiss 
and exclaimed damn him, upon which the an¬ 
nouncer of the toast cryed bless him, which was 
retorted upon him by frequent curses and exe¬ 
crations, [so] that the Grenadiers were ordered 
to clear the streets with their bayonets. . . .” 

It was about a fortnight after this that there 
occurred the famous remonstrance of the school¬ 
boys whose coasting privileges were being cur¬ 
tailed. Andrews tells the story thus: “ Shall 


98 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

close this letter by giving you a small anecdote, 
relating to some of our school lads — who as 
formerly in this season improved the Coast 
from Sherburn’s hill down to School street. 
General Haldiman, improving the house that 
belongs to Old Cook, his servant took it upon 
him to cut up their coast and fling ashes upon 
it. The lads made a muster and chose a com¬ 
mittee to wait upon the General, who admitted 
them and heard their complaint, -which was 
couched in very genteel terms complaining that 
their fathers before ’em had improved it as a 
coast for time immemorial &c. He ordered 
his servant to repair the damage, and acquainted 
the Governor with the affair, who observed 
that it w r as impossible to beat the notion of 
Liberty out of the people as it was rooted in 
from their Childhood.” 

A sidelight upon the religious situation in 
Boston, just at this time, is afforded by Andrews 
in a letter dated March 18, 1775. 

“ An express came to the Governor with 
letters by the packet on Wednesday evening but 
nothing transpired but to a few of his refugee 
councilors, who have been observed ever since 
to be much crest-fallen. Old B1—e (Parson 
Byle, the Tory wit ?) was heard to exclaim 
yesterday — * We shall lose the day. Good God! 
what will become of us ? ’ A certain Reverend 
Doctor of the Establish’d Church in this towm 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 99 

has lately said that he would rather wade up 
to his knees in blood, than that the Ministry 
should give way. Thursday was observed here 



THE OLD WEST CHURCH, WHOSE SERVICE WAS DISTURBED BY BRITISH 
SOLDIERS. THE BUILDING IS NOW USED AS A BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY 


as a general fast. An officer, with men from 
the 4th Regiment in Barracks at West Boston, 
erected a couple of tents just at the back of 
Howard’s meeting and conducted a parcell of 












100 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

fifes and drums there, which played and beat 
Yanky Doodle the whole forenoon service time, 
to the great interruption of the congregation. 
They intended to repeat the same in the after¬ 
noon but were prevented by orders from the 
General. The officers behave more like a 
parcell of children, of late, than men. Captain 

-of the Royal Irish first exposed himself by 

behaving in a very scandalous manner at the 
South meeting, while Dr. Warren was deliver¬ 
ing the oration in commemoration of the Mas¬ 
sacre. He got pretty decently frightened for 
it. A woman, among the rest, attacked him, 
and threatened to wring his nose! . . . 

“ Monday morning, Our provincial congress 
is to meet next month at Concord, when, I am 
told, there is to [be] an army of observation 
encamped consisting of twenty thousand men. 
Am also informed that the congress have ex¬ 
pended near a million in our Old tenor for 
ammunition and provisions. This I know, that 
they have had upwards of fifty ton of shot, shell 
&c cast besides an innumerable number of 
Musket balls. Have seen twenty load covered 
with dung to go out of town myself, but lately 
all carts have been searched by the Guards, and 
unluckily, last Saturday evening a load of 
cartridges were seized packed in candle boxes, 
consisting of 13500 besides 4 boxes balls. The 
countryman struggled hard before he would 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 101 

deliver ’em and received two or three bad 
wounds. The same evening eight or nine 
officers paraded the streets and abused every 
person they met, but finally met with their 
matches and were all made to lay level with 
the ground. — and yesterday four Sergeants and 
as many men were sent to insult John Hancock, 
under pretence of seeing if his stables would 
do for barracks. He went directly to the Gen¬ 
eral who ordered a party there, but they were 
gone. The General told him if he was any ways 
insulted again to write a billet and send it by 
a servant, and he would immediately redress 
him — but it seems the officers and soldiers 
are a good deal disaffected towards the Governor, 
thinking, I suppose, that he is partial to the 
inhabitants; many of the latter have made no 
scruples to call him an Old Woman.” (Gage 
had married an American and his officers in¬ 
clined to a feeling that his wife influenced her 
husband in favor of the rebels. For years, in¬ 
deed, it has been thought that it was through 
Mrs. Gage that the plans of the British on the 
night of April 18, became known; but, in our 
next chapter, we shall have something to ad¬ 
vance which may, perhaps, be held to exon¬ 
erate that lady.) 

The affair of April 19 is now at hand. Before 
leaving the letters of John Andrews, let us 
follow the story of that encounter as he tells it. 


102 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


On the very day after the skirmish he writes: 
“ . . . Last Saturday p. m. orders were sent 
to the several regiments quartered here not to 
let their Grenadiers or light Infantry do any 
duty till further orders, upon which the in¬ 
habitants conjectured that some secret expedi¬ 
tion was on foot and being on the look out, they 
observed those bodies upon the move the evening 
before last, observing a perfect silence in the 
march towards a point opposite Phip’s farm, 
where [boats ?] were in waiting that conveyed 
’em over. The men appointed to alarm the 
country upon such occasions got over by stealth 
as early as they [could] and took their different 
routs. 

“ The first advice we had was about eight 
o’clock in the morning when it was reported 
that the troops had fired upon and killed five 
men in Lexinton — previous to which an officer 
came express to his Excellency Governor 
Gage, when between eight and nine o’clock 
a brigade marched out under the command of 
Earl Piercy, consisting of the Marines, the 
Welch fusilers, the 4th Regiment, the 47th 
and two field pieces. About twelve o’clock it 
was gave out by the General’s Aide camps that 
no person was killed and that a single gun had 
not been fired, which report was variously be- 
leived — but between one and two certain ac¬ 
counts came that eight were killed outright and 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 103 


fourteen wounded of the inhabitants of Lexinton 
— who had about forty men drawn out early in 
the morning near the meeting house to exercise. 
The party of the Light Infantry and Grenadiers, 
to the number of about eight hundred, came up 
to them and ordered them to disperse. The 
commander of them reply’d that they were 
only innocently amusing themselves with exer¬ 
cise, that they had not any ammunition with 
’em and therefore should not molest or disturb 
them, which answer not satisfying, the troops 
fired upon and killed three or four, the other 
took to their heels and the troops continued to 
fire. A few took refuge in the meeting, when the 
soldiers shoved up the Windows and pointed 
their Guns in and killed three there. Thus 
much is best account I can learn of this fatal 
day.” And not too near the truth is it, John 
Andrews! However, let us read the rest of the 
report: 

“You must naturally suppose that such a 
piece would rouse the country (allowed the 
report to be true). The troops continued their 
march to Concord, entered the town, and re¬ 
freshed themselves in the meeting and town 
house. In the latter place they found some 
ammunition and stores belonging to the country, 
which they found they could not bring away 
by reason that the country people had occupied 
all the posts around them. They therefore 


104 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

set fire to the house, which the people extin¬ 
guished. They set fire a second time, which 
brought on a general engagement at about 
eleven o’clock. The troops took two peices of 
cannon from the peasants, but their numbers 
increasing they soon regained ’em and the 
troops were obliged to retreat towards town. 
About noon they were joined by the other 
brigade under Earl Piercy, when another very 
warm engagement came on at Lexinton, which 
the troops could not stand; therefore were 
obliged to continue their retreat which they 
did with the bravery becoming british soldiers 
— but the country were in a manner desperate, 
not regarding their cannon [any more] in the 
least, and followed ’em until seven in the evening 
by which time they got into Charlestown, when 
they left off the pursuit lest they might injure 
the inhabitants. I stood up on the hills in town 
and saw the engagement very plain. It was very 
bloody for seven hours. Its conjectured that 
one half the soldiers at least are killed. The 
last brigade was sent over the ferry in the eve¬ 
ning to secure their retreat — where they are this 
morning entrenching themselves upon Bunker’s 
Hill [to] get a safe retreat to this town. Its 
impossible to learn any particulars as the com¬ 
munication between town and country is at 
present broke off. They were till ten o’clock 
last night bringing over the wounded several 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 105 

of which are since [dead], two officers in par¬ 
ticular. When I reflect and consider that the 
fight was between those whose parents but a 
few generations ago were brothers I shudder 
at the thought and there’s no knowing where 
our calamities will end.” 

Andrews is now worried about his personal 
safety, too. On April 24, he writes: “ Yester¬ 
day, though Sunday, we had town meetings all 
day, and finally concluded to deliver up all our 
arms to the Selectmen, on condition that the 
Governor would open the avenues to the town, 
which is to be comply’d with tommorrow, 
when if I escape with the skin of my teeth shall 
be glad, as I don’t expect to take more than a 
change of apparell with me. Sam. and his wife 
with myself and Ruthy intend for Nova Scotia.” 

Yet on May 6 he wrote: “ You’ll observe by 
this that I’m yet in Boston and here like to 
remain. Three of us chartered a vessel a fort¬ 
night since to convey us to Halifax . . . but 
the absolute refusal of the Governor to suffer 
any merchandize to be carried out of the town 
has determined me to stay and take care of 
my effects. . . . Near half the inhabitants have 
left the town already and another quarter at 
least have been waiting for a week past with 
earnest expectation of getting papers, which 
have been dealt out very sparingly of late, not 
above two or three procured of a day and those 


106 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

with greatest difficulty. Its a fortnight since 
the communication between town and country 
was stopped. Of consequence our eyes have 
not been blessed with either vegetables or fresh 
provisions. P. S. You can have no conception, 
Bill, of the distresses the people in general are 
involved in. You’ll see parents that are lucky 
enough to procure papers, with bundles in one 
hand a string of children in the other wandering 
out of town . . . not knowing whither they’ll 
go. . . . Your uncle and aunt are very de¬ 
sirous for us to [go to London with them] but 
my finances wont at present admit of it, as my 
whole interest, saving outstanding debts, is in 
town and cant be removed. . . . No person 
who leaves the town is allowed to return again.” 

So John Andrews stayed on in Boston and 
took care of his property. During the siege 
he suffered a good deal from the lack of those 
“ fresh vegetables ” to which his letters so fre¬ 
quently have referred, but he managed to live 
through this deprivation and was able to enjoy 
an excellent meal, with General Washington 
as his guest at his School Street home soon 
after the evacuation. In 1785 Mr. Andrews 
was elected a selectman of Boston, and con¬ 
tinued in that office until 1790, when he 
declined to serve longer. He was long remem¬ 
bered by the “ oldest inhabitant ” as a little 
old gentleman of trim dress, powdered hair and 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 107 


white-top boots, who lived in an antique wooden 
house at the corner of Winter and Tremont 
(then Common) Streets, in the midst of a beauti¬ 
ful garden which stretched in the rear of his 
mansion to what is now Hamilton Place. Yet 
we of to-day should very likely have forgotten 
even his name, were it not for the sprightly 
letters which he wrote to his brother-in-law in 
Philadelphia about Boston at the most exciting 
period of her history. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE MESSENGER OF THE REVOLUTION 

T HE first point which the historical pil¬ 
grim from the West or from abroad seeks 
out, after arriving in Boston, is Bunker 
Hill Monument. The next day he inevitably 
spends at the North End, visiting the church 
from whose steeple were hung the signal lights 
connected with Paul Revere’s famous ride to 
Lexington, and roaming through the house, 
now happily open to the public, from which, 
on that eventful night, the “ messenger of the 
Revolution ” went forth on his daring errand. 

The Lexington ride was by no means the 
first that Revere had taken in the service of 
rebellious Boston, and, until Longfellow wrote 
his poem, it did not seem any more impor¬ 
tant than other similar exploits. This fact 
it is which accounts for the many historical 
errors, which have come to be accepted as 
facts, in connection with the ride, and for the 
difficulty with which, so long after the event, 
the truth about it can be brought to common 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 109 

knowledge. For instance, it is now a well- 
established fact that the lanterns were hung 
in Christ Church steeple, not by Newman the 
sexton, but by Captain John Pulling, Jr., a 



PAUL REVERE HOUSE AFTER RESTORATION 


friend of Revere and a vestryman of the church. 
But, so firmly has the other story become im¬ 
planted in the common mind that writers far 
and wide go on making the old misstatement. 

Paul Revere himself, however, is our im¬ 
mediate concern, What of him? His father, 






















110 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

after whom he was named, was also a gold¬ 
smith, and had been called, in his early days, 
Apollos Rivoire. But Huguenot names were 
not easily managed by the stiff Puritan tongues 
of the pre-Revolutionary period, and so, about 
the time of his marriage to Deborah Hitchborn 
of Boston (June 19, 1729), the elder Rivoire 
sensibly anglicized both his Christian name and 
his patronymic. Paul was his third child, and 
he first saw the light January 1, 1735. 

He was educated at the “ North Grammar 
School ” on North Bennet Street, the institution 
with which the famous pedagogue, John Tiles- 
ton, was connected as pupil, usher, and master 
for a period of eighty years. After leaving 
school, Paul entered his father’s shop, learned 
the trade of a gold and silver smith, and de¬ 
veloped great skill as an engraver, not only 
of the tankards, spoons and mugs cherished 
to-day in many New England families, but 
also as the engraver on copperplate of historic 
scenes closely connected with the struggle for 
independence. For already what was to be¬ 
come a passion in the man — the love of liberty 
— had taken firm possession of the youth. 
When he was scarcely twenty, he had a com¬ 
mission as second lieutenant in the expedition 
against the French at Crown point! 

After his initial experience in military life, 
Revere returned to Boston and took unto him- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 111 

self a wife. Subsequently, for a number of 
years, he was occupied with the engraving 
and the sale of caricatures, or what we of to-day 
would call political cartoons. Some illustrations 
which he had made at the time of the Stamp 
Act attracted a great deal of attention, and that 
of 1768, picturing the Rescinders, was exceed¬ 
ingly popular and brought him in a good bit 
of money. On the back of Revere’s original 
print on this subject is written an account of the 
circumstance therein depicted, together with 
the names of the men, seventeen in number, 
who voted to “ rescind.” Painstakingly Revere 
has put just seventeen men into his picture. 
The cut-line at the top of this spirited caricature 
is “ A Warm Place — Hell,” and the representa¬ 
tion shows us Satan and an agile assistant 
hustling the renegades into a pair of monstrous 
open jaws. Satan himself is exclaiming: “ Now, 
I’ve got you! a fine haul, by Jove! ” while his 
assistant is shown flying towards the first man, 
— intended to represent Hon. Timothy Ruggles, 
who is evidently reluctant to leap into the yawn¬ 
ing maw, — with the command: “Push on, 
Tim! ” On the extreme right of the picture, 
in order that there should be no doubt about 
its local application, is drawn in the cupola of 
the Province House, with its Shem Drowne 
Indian taking patient aim! 

The verse beneath the sketch was written 


112 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

by Dr. Benjamin Church, afterwards convicted 
as a traitor to the American cause, who hap- 


A ’Warm Place —Hell 



pened into Revered shop while the engraver 
was at work on the plate. It runs: 


“ On brave Re cinders! to yon yawning cell! 
Seventeen such Miscreants sure will startle hell; 
There puny Villains, damn’d for petty Sin, 

On such distinguish’d Scoundrels gaze and grin; 
The out done Devil will resign his sway, 

He never curst his Millions in a day.” 









OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 113 

Another theme which Revere improved was 
the Boston Massacre. A third famous plate 
is his “ View of Boston in 1768,” the British 
being depicted, in this drawing, as in the act 
of landing their troops. No less than seven 
churches, besides Faneuil Hall and the Old 
State House, are here to be seen, for all that 
part of Boston from the “ Old Brick Church ” 
to the “ North Battery ” is included in the sketch. 

A very well-known piece of Revere’s work is 
on the bill-head of the Cromwell’s Head Inn, a 
famous tavern on School Street, which, says 
Goss, — from whom the Revere data already 
cited has been quoted, — “ stood until 1888.” 
On this same site during the early years of the 
nineteenth century flourished Crosby’s Restau¬ 
rant, cannily fostering its relationship to the 
older eating-house, where, in 1756, Washington 
was entertained, and at which, in 1782, the 
Marquis de Chastellux made his headquarters. 

To be sure there seems to be some question 
whether Revere always originated the drawings 
of the plates which, when engraved and printed, 
brought him in such good returns. There is 
extant a letter sent him by Henry Pelham in 
which the definite statement is made, that, at 
least in the case of the Boston Massacre de¬ 
sign, Revere acted dishonorably. In extenua¬ 
tion one can only say that Revere’s plate is 
marked merely “ engraved printed and sold 


114 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


by ” not “ designed by.” Moreover, Pelham’s 
accusation is unsubstantiated by any other 
documents which I have been able to find. 
The letter however follows: 

“ Thursday morning 

“ Boston, March 29 , 1770 

“ To Mr. Paul Revere, Present, — 

“ Sir , — When I heard that you was cutting 
a plate of the late Murder I thought it im¬ 
possible as I knew you was not capable of 
doing it unless you had coppied it from mine 
and as I thought I had intrusted it in the hands 
of a person who had more regard to the dic¬ 
tates of Honour and Justice than to take the 
undue advantage you have done of the confidence 
and trust I reposed in you. But I find I was 
mistaken and after being at the great Trouble 
and Expence of making a design, paying for 
paper, printing &c find myself in the most 
ungenerous Manner deprived not only of any 
proposed Advantatge but even of the expence 
I have been at as truly as if you had plundered 
me on the highway. If you are insensible 
of the Dishonour you have brought on yourself 
by this Act, the world will not be so. However 
I leave you to reflect upon and consider of one 
of the most dishonourable Actions you could 
well be guilty of. “ H. Pelham.” 





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THE OUD NORTH CHURCH 

Page 122 


































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 115 

To his brother, Charles Pelham of Medford 
and Newton, Henry Pelham on May 1 , 1770 
wrote: “ Inclosed I send you two of my prints 
on the late Massacre.” The fact that the Mas¬ 
sacre plate which Revere engraved shows more 
distinct artistic pow r er than any other of his 
things unfortunately gives color to Pelham’s 
claim. For Henry Pelham was an artist and 
Revere was not. 

So profitable did Revere find the engraving 
of militant cartoons that he was able, in 1770, 
to purchase the house in North Square now 
associated with his name. North Square was 
the Court end of Boston at that time, and con¬ 
tained some of the finest residences of which 
the town could boast. Here, then, it was that 
Revere lived about a quarter of a cen¬ 
tury, and all through the years of the War 
of the Revolution. Here, too, on May third, 
1773, Sarah, the wife of his young manhood, 
died. 

Yet the North Square home was not long with¬ 
out a mistress, for after a few months, “ his 
household being in sore need of a mother’s care,” 
he addressed his attentions to an excellent 
and charming woman, Rachel Walker. Among 
the leaves of one of Revere’s day-books is found 
a poetic effusion which played a part in the 
courting of Miss Walker. The verse and its 
interpretation runs: 


116 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

“ Take three fourths of a Paine that makes Traitors confess 
(Rac) 

With three parts of a place which the Wicked don’t bless (Hel) 
Joyne four sevenths of an Exercise which shop-keepers use (Walk) 
Add what bad men do, when they good actions refuse, (Er) 
These four, added together with great care and Art, 

Will point out the Fair One that’s nearest my Heart.’* 

They were married October 10, 1773 — 
Revere and this “ Fair One ” — by Rev. Samuel 
Mather. Not long afterwards the bridegroom 
began those public services which have since 
made him famous; whenever there was an 
important message to be carried to the sister 
colonies, he was the man to whom it was in¬ 
trusted. He also served on many patriotic 
committees and was a prime mover in the numer¬ 
ous clubs whose object it was to foster the spirit 
of rebellion. Some of these clubs had been 
meeting for years, — the “ Sons of Liberty ” in a 
distillery, and also in the Green Dragon Tavern, 
and the North and South End “ caucuses ” 
in places convenient to their respective members. 
John Adams, in his Diary, gives us an interest¬ 
ing glimpse of their manners and customs: 

“ Feb. 1, 1763. — This day learned that the 
Caucus Club meets at certain times in the garret 
of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regi¬ 
ment. He has a large house, and he has a mov¬ 
able petition [sic] in his garret, which he takes 
down, and the whole club meets in one room. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 117 

There they smoke tobacco until you cannot see 
from one end of the garret to the other. Then 
they drink flip, I suppose, and there they choose 
a moderator who puts the questions to the vote 
regularly; and selectmen, assessors, collectors, 
wardens, firewards and representatives, are 
regularly chosen before they are chosen in the 
town. . . . January 15, 1766. — Spent the eve¬ 
ning with the Sons of Liberty at their own apart¬ 
ment in Hanover Square, near the Tree of 
Liberty. It is a counting-room in Chase and 
Speakman’s distillery; a very small room it is. 
There were present John Avery, a distiller of 
liberal education; ... I was very cordially 
and respectfully treated by all present. We 
had punch, wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit and 
cheese. They chose a committee to make 
preparations for grand rejoicing upon the ar¬ 
rival of the news of a repeal of the stamp act.” 

The particular club to which is due credit for 
effective action on the eve of April 19 was, how¬ 
ever, that made up of about thirty mechanics 
who had enrolled themselves as a kind of vol¬ 
unteer committee to watch over the British. 
Of this club Revere was the head, and it met, 
as he himself says, “ at the Green Dragon 
Tavern.” Just how that group got to know 
immediately the plan of the British to march 
to Concord and to arrest, on the way, John 
Hancock and Samuel Adams (who were staying 


118 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

with Parson Clark at Lexington) has never been 
determined. One tale runs that a groom at the 
Province House, who happened to drop into a 
stable near by on Milk Street told the stable- 
boy that he had overheard a conversation be¬ 
tween Gage and other officers. “ There’ll be 
hell to pay to-morrow,” the jockey thereupon 
predicted. It was alleged that this significant 
conversation was speedily repeated and carried 
to Paul Revere, who enjoined silence and re¬ 
marked to his informant: “ You are the third 
person who has brought me the same informa¬ 
tion.” 

Another story has it that the great secret was 
revealed by an incautious sergeant-major in 
Gage’s army quartered in the family of an 
Englishman, Jasper by name, who was secretly 
sympathetic towards the rebel cause, and who 
kept a gunsmith’s shop. Jasper is said to have 
repeated what he had gathered from the British 
officer to Colonel Josiah Waters, one of the 
patriot leaders, who promptly made the facts 
known to the Committee of Safety. Still an¬ 
other story which bears all the earmarks of 
probability is that the news was communicated 
through a Mrs. Stedman, who lived at the 
corner of Winter and Washington Streets and 
who, on account of the scarcity of servants, 
had been glad to avail herself of the services 
of a woman whose husband was a British sol- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 119 

dier named Gibson. On the evening of the 
eighteenth of April a grenadier in full regi¬ 
mentals knocked at Mrs. Stedman’s door and 
inquired for Gibson. On being told that he 
would soon be at the house, an order was left 
for him to report himself at eight o’clock at the 
bottom of the Common, equipped for an expe¬ 
dition. Mrs. Stedman hastened to inform her 
husband of this alarming summons, and he at 
once carried the news to Dr. Benjamin Church, 
who lived near by on Winter Street, and who, 
at that time, may have been loyal to the Ameri¬ 
can cause, and have pushed the news on to 
Revere. 

A brand new and not uninteresting explana¬ 
tion of the celerity with which the news reached 
Revere found its way to me from Mrs. E. 
Corinna Wheeler, an aged lady then living in 
Boston, who declared herself the only surviving 
possessor of the facts about that night. “My 
great-grandmother,” she asserted in the course 
of a talk, “was Lydia Ballard Lewis, and in 
1775 she was a girl of fifteen. It was to her 
brother, a bright Yankee boy, Sam Ballard 
by name, that the intelligence of the Committee 
of Safety was due, and the exact form in which 
she related the story afterwards to my mother 
is as follows: It was a great thing in those times 
for the boys to hang about the inn doors to pick 
up a few shillings and sixpences by holding 


120 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

horses, while their owners went inside for a 
drink. On the week before the eighteenth 
my great-great-uncle, then a boy of thirteen, 
overheard in this way the conversation of two 
British officers. That conversation was im- 



GREEN DRAGON TAVERN 


portant. For they talked of the plan to capture 
Hancock and Adams. 

“ Sam went immediately with his news to the 
landlord of the Green Dragon, and he informed 
the Committee of Safety which had its meetings 
in an upper room of that tavern. Acting on this 
information the committee appointed a spy 
to hide in the rooms where the British held their 
councils. The spy learned the rest. Then the 
committee held another meeting and planned the 

















OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 121 

ride of Paul Revere. But on the night of the 
eighteenth the committee was carefully watched, 
for the British were determined that they should 
not do the very thing they accomplished, — 
that is, get news of the march to Lexington and 
Concord. The committee did not dare to ven¬ 
ture out, but somehow they must send word 
to Revere. It suddenly occurred to Dr. Warren 
that no suspicion would be aroused to see a 
boy running up the causeway from the Green 
Dragon to Revere’s house. So, about ten o’clock, 
he despatched that same thirteen year old Sam 
Ballard to carry the message to Paul Revere! ” 
In a letter sent in 1798 to Jeremy Belknap 
(secretary of the Massachusetts Historical So¬ 
ciety), which letter was afterwards published in 
the Proceedings of that body, Revere himself, 
then an old man, told in detail the story of his 
famous ride. “ About ten o’clock,” he declares, 
“ Dr. Warren sent in great haste for me, and 
begged that I would immediately set off for 
Lexington, where Messrs. Hancock and Adams 
were, and acquaint them of the movement 
and that it was thought they were the objects. 
When I got to Dr. Warren’s house [on the site 
of the present American House in Hanover 
street] I found he had sent an express by land 
to Lexington — a Mr. William Dawes. The 
Sunday before, by desire of Dr. Warren, I had 
been to Lexington, to Messrs. Hancock and 


122 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


Adams, who were at the Rev. Mr. Clark’s. I 
returned at night through Charlestown; there 
I agreed with a Colonel Conant and some other 
gentlemen, that if the British went out by water 
we would show two lanthorns in the North Church 
steeple, and if by land, one as a signal; for we 
were apprehensive it would be difficult to cross 
the Charles River, or get over Boston Neck. 
I left Dr. Warren, called upon a friend and de¬ 
sired him to make the signals.” 

The common mistake about the identity 
of this “ friend ” with Robert Newman, the 
sexton of Christ Church, emanated in 1876 from 
the late Dr. Burroughs, rector of that parish, 
who made the statement in a centenary sermon, 
which was widely printed and circulated. Thus 
the idea that Newman actually did the deed of 
valor— for it meant risking one’s neck in a 
city, given over, as Boston then was, to the 
domination of the British, — got pretty firmly 
implanted in the minds of the American people. 
Had it not been for the diligence of Rev. John 
Lee Watson, D. D., who was assistant rector 
of Old Trinity under Bishop Griswold, it is 
probable that the claim would have gone un¬ 
disputed. 

Dr. Watson, however, knew very well that 
in the Pulling family, with which he was re¬ 
motely connected, it had long been a cherished 
tradition that their ancestor, Captain John 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 123 

Pulling, Jr., who was the intimate friend of 
Paul Revere, displayed the signals on that 
eventful night; that it was to Pulling, indeed, 
that Revere specifically refers as the “ friend ” 
who cooperated with him in this matter. Ac¬ 
cordingly he set himself promptly to collect his 
evidence, and, something over a year after 
Dr. Burroughs had preached his sermon, pub¬ 
lished all that he had gathered on the subject. 

Dr. Watson showed that John Pulling, Jr., 
son of John and Martha Pulling, was born in 
Boston, February 18, 1737, and was brought 
up in Christ Church, where his father was first 
a warden and later a vestryman. Young Pulling 
received his education in the town schools of 
that day, married the daughter of Colonel John 
Lee of Manchester, and at the time of the revo¬ 
lution was well established as a successful Boston 
merchant. 

From boyhood he had been an intimate friend 
of Paul Revere and, in all the patriotic under¬ 
takings with which Revere’s name was asso¬ 
ciated, Pulling also had a place. 

In the records of the Boston committee of 
correspondence, “ Captain John Pulling and 
Major Paul Revere ” are mentioned as having 
been together chosen for membership; it is 
also recorded that “at a meeting of the free¬ 
holders and other inhabitants of the town of 
Boston, in public town meeting assembled, at 


124 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the old brick meeting house,” it was “ voted that 
Captain John Pulling, Major Paul Revere ” 
and others “ be appointed a subcommittee to 
collect the names of all persons who have in any 
way acted against or opposed the rights and 
liberties of this country.” Moreover, Revere’s 
narrative of the events of the memorable eve of 
April 19 refers to his “ friend ” in just the casual 
way a simple man would do if that “ friend ” 
were an intimate comrade. 

Pulling’s house was near the church and, 
as soon as Revere had left him, he began to 
watch for a favorable opportunity to go to the 
home of the sexton, on Salem Street, and ask that 
functionary for the keys, which he would not, 
of course, refuse to give to one who was a vestry¬ 
man of the church. He then let himself into the 
sacred edifice, carefully locking the door behind 
him. Then climbing to the upper window of the 
steeple, he waited for a favorable moment — 
and hung out the two lanterns by which those on 
the other side were told “ the British were going 
by water.” 

Immediately upon the discovery by the au¬ 
thorities that signals revealing their plans had 
been made from the church, a search was set 
afoot for the rebel who made them. The sexton 
was naturally suspected and promptly arrested. 
He protested his innocence; and, when ques¬ 
tioned, declared that “ the keys of the church 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 125 

were demanded of him at a late hour of the night 
by Mr. Pulling, who, being a vestryman, he 
thought had a right to them; and, after he had 
given them up, he had gone to bed again, and 
that was all he knew about it.” This answer 
was all that was necessary to procure his release 
and turn the search toward Pulling. 

The real “ rebel,” however, got wind of the 
investigation and, disguised as a laborer, made 
his escape on a friendly vessel. How long he 
remained in hiding is not known, but his family 
stayed for some time in an old building on the 
sea-shore at Cohasset, suffering not a little 
for want of the necessaries of life. For they had 
left behind them in their precipitate departure 
much of their “ abundant means ” and the 
family fortunes were never recouped. 

To be sure, Mr. Pulling returned to Boston 
after the siege was raised, and was active, until 
the end of the war, in 1783, in all the patriotic 
measures of the time, but his health had been a 
good deal broken by privation, and he died 
January 25, 1787, aged only fifty. 

The story of that night, however, was told 
to the children of the Pulling family as a part 
of their family history, and a patriotic grand¬ 
daughter, Mary Orne Jenks of Salem, did not 
a little, toward the end of her life, to render to 
the right person credit for the plucky deed. 

“ I know that he (John Pulling) held the lan- 


126 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

terns on that night,” she repeatedly said and 
wrote: “ but how can I prove it after all these 
years ? If this sexton, Newman — I never 
heard his name before — was the person, and 
was arrested, is it very likely he could escape 
and remain in Boston ? ” 

A conclusive argument in Pulling’s behalf lies 
in the fact that Revere, in his narrative, gives 
an account of about thirty persons, mechanics 
and others, “ who had agreed to watch the 
movements of British soldiers and tories,” 
and who were in the habit of meeting, to com¬ 
pare notes, at the Green Dragon Tavern in 
Union Street. 

“ We were so careful,” Revere continues, 
“ that our meetings should be kept secret, that 
every time we met every person swore upon the 
Bible that they would not disclose any of our 
transactions but to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, 
Drs. Warren, Church and one or two more.” 

In other words, they swore to confide their 
plans only to the committees chosen by them¬ 
selves, to which both Paul Revere and John 
Pulling belonged. It is hardly reasonable to 
suppose that the church sexton, Newman, 
would have been admitted into a confidence 
which these careful men had repeatedly “ sworn 
upon the Bible ” to keep inviolate. 

Subsequent to the publication of Dr. Watson’s 
letters, a Baptist minister, Rev. Henry F. Lane, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 127 

who was the son of John Pulling’s granddaughter, 
w T rote in regard to the matter: “ When I 
was a lad, I distinctly remember hearing from 
my mother’s grandmother, who died in Abing- 
ton about 1846, in her 99th year, that her hus¬ 
band hung the lights from the steeple of the 
Old North church. His residence at the time 
was on the corner of what were then called Ann 
and Cross sts. The British made diligent 
search for him, and I have heard my great¬ 
grandmother give a very vivid description of their 
searching the house to find him, and how he 
avoided capture by her concealing him under an 
empty winebutt in the cellar. He escaped 
from Boston in a small skiff, while the British 
had possession, by disguising himself as a fisher¬ 
man; was challenged while passing under the 
hawser of a British man-of-war and landed 
on Nantasket beach.” 

The wife who very bravely shared her hus¬ 
band’s exile was a Hingham woman whose 
maiden name was Sarah Thaxter. Pulling 
was her second husband, as she was his second 
wife. She belongs more really to his fame 
than does Annis Lee, his first wife, because 
she suffered much for and with him. For a time 
she was in concealment in an old cooper shop 
on the Cohasset shore, and in that rude dwell¬ 
ing she gave birth — before being joined by 
her husband — according to the statement of 


128 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Harvey H. Pratt, her great-great-grandson and 
a well-known Boston attorney, to a girl baby. 
Mr. Pratt owns the Bible from which the wife 
of the lantern hanger got her comfort and sup¬ 
port during this trying ordeal. 

Before the affair of the lanterns John Pulling 
had taken part in the Boston tea party, differing 
from most of the others on that occasion in 
appearing without disguise. Instead he wore 
his usual three-cornered hat, on the rim of 
which Mrs. Pulling found, upon his return home, 
a small quantity of the obnoxious tea. This she 
preserved in a glass vial that she kept carefully 
stowed away in a desk now owned by her great- 
great-grandson, Clifford Reed of Dorchester, 
Massachusetts. 

Mr. Reed also cherishes in his home a chest 
long used by Mrs. Pulling and upon which, 
family tradition says, the lantern hanger’s wife 
once served a lunch to General Joseph Warren 
when he came to borrow money with which to 
push on preparations for war. So far as is 
known no picture of Captain John Pulling, Jr., 
is in existence. 

At the Massachusetts Historical Society, where 
this whole matter was threshed out more than 
a quarter of a century ago by the late Charles 
Deane, very well known as a careful antiquarian, 
Pulling’s share in the events preceding the skir¬ 
mish at Lexington has long been an accepted fact. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 129 


After leaving the friend who was to make the 
signals, “ I went home,” Revere’s narrative 
continues, “ took my boots and surtout, went 
to the north part of the town, where I kept a 
boat; two friends rowed me across Charles 
River a little to the eastward where the Somerset 
man-of-war lay. It was then young flood, the 
ship was winding and the moon rising. They 
landed me on the Charlestown side. When I got 
into town, I met Colonel Conant and several 
others; they said they had seen our signals .” 

These signals, it is thus made clear, were 
for these waiting ones , — in case Revere had 
not been able to get across. As it was, he had 
only to find a horse and be off. Longfellow’s 
picture of him, stamping up and down by the 
side of his valiant steed, searching the sky line 
for “ a glimmer and then a gleam of light ” 
is pure poetry, — just as it was meant to be. 

“ While the horse was preparing,” Revere’s 
narrative continues, “ Richard Devens Esq., 
who was one of the Committee of Safety, came 
to me and told me that he came down the road 
from Lexington after sundown that evening; 
that he met ten British officers, all well mounted 
and going up the road. I set off upon a very 
good horse; it was about 11 o’clock and very 
pleasant. . . .” 

Ere the “ messenger of the Revolution ” 
had gone far on his way, however, he discerned 


130 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

two British officers just ahead of him. Where¬ 
upon he turned quickly, and though pursued, 
made good his escape by passing through Med¬ 
ford and up to Menotomy (now Arlington). 
“ In Medford,” he records, “ I waked the cap¬ 
tain of the minute men and after that, I alarmed 
almost every house, till I got to Lexington.” 
Just at this point, it will be seen, the facts 
agree with the stirring lines of the poem: 


“ A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 

And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 
Struck out by a steed flying fearless, and fleet: 

That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light 
The fate of a nation was riding that night/* 


I once had the pleasure of holding in my hand 
the small gold watch that rested in Revere’s 
pocket as he made his daring ride. Paul Re¬ 
vere left this watch by his will to his son, Joseph 
Revere, who in turn passed it down to Colonel 
Frederick W. Lincoln of Canton, his nephew, 
and the revolutionary scout’s grandson. This 
Colonel Lincoln was for many years the head 
of the Revere Copper Company’s works in 
Canton, the industry, it will be remembered, 
with which Paul Revere was so long connected. 

Frederick W. Lincoln, the mayor of Boston, 
was adopted by Colonel Lincoln, and because 
of this, as well as from the fact that he was the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 131 

patriot Paul’s great-grandson, he would have 
been the natural heir to the watch. But Colonel 
Lincoln had in the present owner’s father, Dr. 
Phineas Miller Crane, late of East Boston, a 
friend as near and dear to him as Damon was 
to Pythias. 

Dr. Crane was the son of Major-General 
Elijah Crane, who commanded the troops in 
New England during the War of 1812, and 
was also in his time high sheriff of the county and 
grand master of the grand lodge of Massachu¬ 
setts Free and Accepted Masons. Dr. Crane 
was often at his friend’s home in Canton, and 
there one day he met the young lady with whom 
he fell in love, and whom he resolved to marry. 
He had just graduated from Harvard College 
and the Harvard medical school, but soon he 
established a practice, and in 1833 he persuaded 
Susan Dwight to share his home and fortunes. 

Dr. Crane had often admired the Paul Revere 
watch, and his love for the timepiece was shared 
by his bride. One day, in the course of con¬ 
versation, he let this fact drop to Colonel 
Lincoln, proposing, half in jest, that he sell him 
the watch to give his bride as a wedding present. 
Colonel Lincoln was, of course, not in the least 
tempted by the money, and he was naturally 
somewhat averse, anyhow, to having the relic 
go to one not of the Revere blood, but it seemed 
to him a splendid opportunity to put the seal 


132 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

on a friendship that had meant much to both 
men, as well as to Miss Dwight, and he consented 
to part with the watch. 

From that time, 1833, till September, 1901, 
when she passed away, — leaving the watch to 
her son, Frederick Lincoln Crane, of Malden, — 
Mrs. Crane cherished this relic with tenderest 
love. All the Revere family and traditions 
were known to her, Paul’s daughter being long 
one of her friends, and she fully appreciated the 
great honor done her in making her the custo¬ 
dian of the relic. On the slender chain, like 
a woman’s neck chain, which came with the 
watch, her husband had her initials engraved, 
and these were easily distinguished. Rather 
curiously, those little letters, S. H. C., seemed to 
be the only marks on the handsome relic. No 
maker’s name was visible. The number of 
the watch in its 18-carat gold case, I discerned 
as 24,650 and that watch-makers were efficient 
in Revere’s day is evidenced by the fact that, 
more than one hundred and twenty-five years 
after the night this watch served its owner on 
his famous ride it was keeping good time. 

This very interesting timepiece must have 
pointed to twelve, midnight, when Revere rode 
up to the Lexington parsonage, at which Samuel 
Adams and John Hancock, together with Doro¬ 
thy Quincy and her chaperon, Hancock’s aunt, 
were staying as guests. An orderly stationed out- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 133 

side requested the horseman not to make so 
much noise, lest he disturb the family. 

“ Noise! ” answered Revere, “you’ll have 
noise enough before long. The regulars are 
coming out.” 

When Hancock heard this stirring news, he 



THE RESTORED HANCOCK-CLARK HOUSE, LEXINGTON 


was impelled by martial pride, coupled, per¬ 
haps, with the feeling that he must show him¬ 
self every inch a hero in the presence of his 
lady-love, to show fight and, in after years, his 
widow related that it was only with great diffi¬ 
culty that he was dissuaded from going out to 
join the soldiers who soon assembled. As it 
was, he was all night cleaning his gun and sword, 
and putting his accoutrements in order. Adams’ 






134 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

good sense it was which finally settled the matter 
for, clapping Hancock on the shoulder, he said, 
decisively: “That is not our business; we 
belong to the cabinet.” “ Yet it was not till 
break of day that Mr. Hancock could be per¬ 
suaded that it would be improper for him to 
expose himself against such a powerful force,” 
ran the story as his widow related it, nearly 
fifty years later at a little dinner-party given 
in Boston by Mr. Stephen Codman, — a party 
at which General William H. Sumner was one 
of the guests, and from which he hurried home 
to write down the lady’s words just as they had 
fallen from her lips. 

“ But, overcome by the entreaties of his 
friends, who convinced him that the enemy 
would indeed triumph, if they could get him 
and Mr. Adams in their power; and finding 
by the inquiries of a British officer (a forerunner 
of the army) who asked where Clark’s tavern 
was, that he was one of their objects, he, with 
Mr. Adams, went over to Woburn,” related 
Hancock’s Dorothy Q. The ladies remained 
and saw the battle commence. Mrs. Scott 
says the British fired first, she is sure (after 
Hancock’s death his widow married Captain 
Scott). This was a point much contested at 
the time, and many depositions were taken to 
prove that the British were the actual aggressors. 

“ One of the first British bullets whizzed by 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 135 

old Mrs. Hancock’s head, as she was looking 
out of the door, and struck the barn,” runs 
this narrative as General Sumner wrote it. 
“ She cried out, What is that ? they told her it 
was a bullet and she must take care of her¬ 
self. Mrs. Scott was at the chamber window 
looking at the fight. She says two of the 
wounded men were brought into the house. 
One of them, whose head was grazed by a ball, 
insisted that he was dead; the other, who was 
shot in the arm, behaved better. . . . 

“ After the British passed on towards Con¬ 
cord, they received a letter from Mr. Hancock 
informing them where he and Mr. Adams were, 
wishing them to get into the carriage and come 
over and bring the fine salmon that they had 
had sent to them for dinner. This they carried 
over in the carriage and had got it nicely cooked 
and were just sitting down to it, when in came a 
man from Lexington whose house was upon 
the main road, and who cleared out, leaving 
his wife and family at home, as soon as he saw 
the British bayonets glistening as they de¬ 
scended the hills on their return from Concord. 
Half frightened to death he exclaimed ‘ The 
British are coming! The British are coming! 
my wife’s in etarnity now.’ Mr. Hancock and 
Mr. Adams, supposing the British troops were 
at hand, went into the swamp and staid till 
the alarm was over.” 


136 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Upon their return to the house Miss Quincy 
told Mr. Hancock that, having left her father 
in Boston, she should return to him to-morrow. 
“ No, madam,” said he, “ you shall not return as 
long as there is a British bayonet left in Boston.” 
She, with the spirit of a woman, said: “ Recol¬ 
lect, Mr. Hancock, I am not under your control 
yet. I shall go in to my father to-morrow.” 
But she did not go. In fact it was three years 
later when she next entered Boston. And then 
she was Mrs. Hancock. 

What of Revere, however, after he had 
roused the inmates of the Clark house ? Let 
us return to his narrative, so as to get the story 
in his own picturesque language. 

“ After I had been there for half an hour Mr. 
Dawes arrived who came from Boston over the 
neck; we set off for Concord & were over¬ 
taken by a young gentleman named Prescot, 
who belonged to Concord & was going home 
[He too, had been spending a happy evening 
with his fiancee]. When we had got about half 
way from Lexington to Concord the other two 
stopped at a House to wake the man. I kept 
along. When I had got about two hundred 
yards ahead of them I saw two officers as be¬ 
fore. I called to my companions to come up, 
saying there were two of them (for I had 
told them what Mr. Devens told me and of my 
being stopped) in an instant I saw four of them 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 137 

who rode up me with their pistols in their hand, 
said G—d d—n you stop, if you go an inch 
further you are a dead man.’ immeaditly 
Mr Prescot came up we attempted to git thro 
them, but they kept before us and swore if 
we did not turn into that pasture they would 
blow our brains out (they had placed themselves 
opposite to a pair of Barrs, and had taken the 
Barrs down) they forced us in, when we had 
got in, Mr. Prescot said put on. 

“ He took to the left I to the right towards 
a wood to the bottom of the Pasture intend¬ 
ing, when I gained that, to jump my Horse 
& run afoot; just as I reached it out started 
six officers, seized my bridle, put their Pistols 
to my breast, ordered me to dismount which 
I did: One of them who appeared to have the 
Command there and much of a Gentleman, 
asked me where I came from; I told him, he 
asked what time I left it, I told him, he seemed 
surprised, said Sir may I have your name, I an¬ 
swered my name is Revere, what said he Paul 
Revere; I answered yes; the others abused 
much but he told me not to be afraid no one 
should hurt me; I told him they would miss 
their aim. He said they should not, they were 
only awaiting for some deserters they expected 
down the road; I told him I knew better, I 
knew what they were after; that I had alarmed 
the country all the way up, that their Boats were 


138 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

catched aground, and I should have 500 men 
there soon; one of them said they had 1500 
coming: he seemed surprised and rode off into 
the road, and informed them who took me, 
they came down immeaditly on a full gallop, 
one of them (whom I since learned was Major 
Mitchell of the 5th Reg.) Clapped his Pistol 
to my head, and said he was going to ask me 
some questions if I did not tell him the truth he 
would blow my brains out. 

“ I told him I esteemed myself a Man of truth, 
that he had stopped me on the highway & made 
me a prisoner, I knew not by what right; I 
would tell him the truth; I was not afraid; He 
then asked me the same questions that the others 
did, and many more, but was more particular; 
I gave him much the same answers; he then 
Ordered me to mount my horse, they first 
searched me for pistols. When I was mounted 
the Major took the reins out of my hand, and 
said by G—d Sir, you are not to ride with reins 
I assure you; and gave them to an officer on 
my right to lead me, he then Ordered 4 men out 
of the Bushes & to mount their horses; they 
were countrymen whom they had stopped who 
were going home; then ordered us to march. 
He said to me ‘ We are now going towards your 
friends and if you attempt to run or we are 
insulted we will blow your brains out.’ When 
we had got into the Road they formed a circle 



Photo. Copyright, 1901, by F. S. Piper. 

THE ROOM OCCUPIED BY HANCOCK AXD ADAMS OX THE XIGHT 
OF PAUL REVERE’S RIDE. 

Page 132 



Photo. Copyright, 1901, by F. S. Piper. 
OLD KITCHEX OF THE CLARK HOUSE. 

Page 132 




































BELFRY, LEXINGTON"• 

Page 140 


THE OLD 









OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 139 

and ordered the prisoners in the centre: & 
to lead me in the front. We rid towards Lex¬ 
ington, a quick pace; They very often insulted 
me calling me Rebel &c &c after we had gone 
about a mile, I was given to the Serjant to lead, 
he was Ordered to take out his pistol (he rode 
with a hanger) and if I ran to execute the major’s 
sentence; When we got within about half a mile 
of the meeting house we heard a gun fired; 
the Major asked me what it was for, I told him 
to alarm the country; he ordered the four pris¬ 
oners to dismount, they did, then one of the 
officers dismounted and cutt the Bridles, and 
saddels, off the Horses, & drove them away, 
and told the men they might go about their 
business; I asked the Major to dismiss me, he 
said he would carry me let the consequences 
be what it will. He then Ordered us to march, 
when we got within sight of the meeting House, 
we heard a Volley of guns fired, as I supposed 
at the tavern as an alarm; the Major ordered 
us to halt, he asked me how far it was to Cam¬ 
bridge, and many more questions which I 
answered; he then asked the Serjant if his horse 
was tired, he said yes; he Ordered him to take 
my horse; I dismounted, the Serjant mounted 
my horse; they cutt the Bridles & Saddle of 
the Serjant’s horse & rode off, down the road. 

“ I then went to the house where I left Messrs. 
Adams and Hancock, and told them what had 


140 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

happened, their friends advised them to go 
out of the Way; I went with them about two 
miles across road: after resting myself I set 
off with another man to go back to the Tavern; 
to enquire the News; When we got there, we 
were told the troops were within two miles. 
We went into the Tavern to git a Trunk of 
papers belonging to Col. Hancock, before we 
left the House, I saw the ministeral troops from 
the Chamber window, we made haste & had 
to pass our Militia, who were on the green be¬ 
hind the meeting house, to the number as I 
supposed, about 50 or GO. I went thro them; 
as I passed I heard the commanding officer 
speake to his men to this purpose, ‘ Lett the 
troops pass by and don’t molest them without 
They begin first.’ I had to go a cross Road but 
had not got half Gun shot off, when the Minis¬ 
teral Troops appeared in sight behinde the 
Meeting House; they made a short halt, when 
one gun was fired. I heard the report, turned 
my head, and saw the Smoake in front of the 
Troops, they imeaditely gave a great shout, 
ran a few paces, and then the whole fired. I 
could first distinguish Iregular fireing, which I 
supposed was the advance guard, and then 
platoons, at this time I could not see our Militia 
for they were covered from me by a house at the 
bottom of the Street.” 

This was the “ battle ” of Lexington. Just 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 141 

who began it we shall probably never know 
but the chances are that, as Dorothy Quincy 
said, the regulars fired the first shot. Major 
Pitcairn, “ who was a good Man in a bad 
Cause, insisted upon it to the day of his Death 
that the Colonists fired first. But he does not 
say that he saw the Colonists fire first. Had he 
said it I would have believed him,” wrote 
President Ezra Stiles of Yale in his Diary. 

In any case the war of the Revolution was 
now begun. On April 20 Hancock, as presi¬ 
dent of the Provincial Congress, advised those 
patriots still in Boston, to leave the towm, and, 
on that same day Revere was permanently 
engaged by Dr. Warren, president of the Com¬ 
mittee of Safety, “ as a messenger to do the out¬ 
doors business for that committee.” 


CHAPTER VII 


WHEN FANEUIL HALL WAS A PLAYHOUSE 


D IRECTLY after the skirmish at Lex¬ 
ington and Concord, Governor Gage 
wrote to his friends in England: “ Con¬ 
ciliation, moderation, reasoning is over; noth¬ 
ing can be done now but by forcible means. 
Tho’ the people are not held in high estimation 
by the troops, yet they are numerous, worked 
up to a fury, and not a Boston rabble but the 
farmers and the freeholders of the country. A 
check anywhere will be fatal and the first stroke 
will decide a great deal. We should therefore 
be strong and proceed on a good foundation 
before anything decisive is tried.” Pursuant to 
which General Gage fortified Boston as care¬ 
fully as he could, — and the siege of that re¬ 
bellious town began. 

But, though Boston was shut up, General 
Gage could not prevent the minutemen from 
pouring in from all directions to the surround¬ 
ing settlements, and the day after the Lexing¬ 
ton affair there was a good-sized army in Cam- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 143 

bridge ready to do whatever might seem best for 
the patriots’ cause. They had not long to wait 
for work. On the night of June 16 General 
Ward, the commander of all the colonial forces, 
sent a detachment under Colonel Prescott, 
together with some Connecticut men under 
Captain Knowlton, to takepossession of Charles¬ 
town. The soldiers stopped on the top of Bunker 
Hill, and then, after some discussion, decided 
to advance half a mile farther to Breed Farm, 
where the hill sloped toward the south and 
whence they could command the town and 
shipping better. There they laid out a redoubt, 
at which they worked all night and, on the left, 
was constructed a rude breastwork, known as the 
rail fence, at which the Connecticut men were 
stationed. 

When General Gage, from across the river, 
beheld these evidences of military activity 
he was not a little disturbed in mind. Yet it was 
not until noon that General Howe, who with 
Clinton and Burgoyne had now arrived in Bos¬ 
ton at the head of reinforcements, landed with 
two thousand men near the present site of the 
Charlestown Navy Yard, and advanced against 
the breastworks of the hill. 

We need not fight here the battle which fol¬ 
lowed, nor attempt to depict the havoc that 
ensued when Howe ordered the village of 
Charlestown to be set on fire. Suffice it to say 


144 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

that, after a hard contest, the Americans were 
overcome by greater numbers and forced to 
leave their position, having a record of one 
hundred and forty-five men killed and missing, 
and three hundred and four wounded. Two 
hundred and twenty-four of the attacking force 
were killed and eight hundred and thirty 
wounded. So only the pitiful lack of powder 
on the American side prevented them from 
carrying off an actual as well as a virtual victory. 
As it was, however, the British were left in 
possession of the field, for they had carried the 
position at the point of the bayonet and tech¬ 
nically the day was theirs. 

Among the many Americans who distinguished 
themselves at Bunker Hill the names of Pres¬ 
cott, Putnam and Warren stand out most 
clearly. Prescott was a Groton man, who had 
already had military experience under General 
Winslow at the capture of Cape Breton. Of 
his intrepidity on the day of the battle many 
anecdotes are told, among them that of the way 
in which he inspired confidence in his men. 
A private had been killed by a cannon ball and 
Prescott, perceiving that this had made some 
of the soldiers sick at heart, mounted the para¬ 
pet and walked leisurely around it, cheering 
his soldiers by approbation and humor. Gen¬ 
eral Gage, who was reconnoitering the Ameri¬ 
cans through his glass, inquired of Councillor 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 145 

Willard, near him, who that tall, commanding 
figure was. Willard borrowed the glass, looked 



STATUE OF COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT, BUNKER HILL 


through it, and said: “ It is my brother-in- 
law.” “ Will he fight ? ” again inquired Gage. 
“ As long as a drop of blood remains in his 









146 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

veins,” answered the other. Prescott had long 
before proved himself a fighter; to him is 
attributed the excellent advice given to the 
men at Bunker Hill: “ Don’t fire until you see 
the whites of the enemies’ eyes.” 

Putnam, also, rendered very valuable service 
that day. Accounts of his activities vary greatly, 
but there is no doubt whatever that he was in 
the hottest of the fight at the rail fence, that he 
was applied to constantly for orders, — and 
that he also gave orders without being applied to. 
A letter of the period gives us a vivid picture 
of the way in which he rallied reinforcements. 

“ Just after dinner on Sunday, 17th ult, I was 
walking out from my lodgings [in Cambridge] 
quite calm and composed, and all at once the 
drums beat to arms and bells rang and there 
was a great noise. Captain Putnam came by 
on full gallop. ‘ What is the matter ? ’ says I. 
‘ Have you not heard ? ’ ‘ No/ ‘ Why, the 

regulars are landing at Charlestown,’ says he, 
‘ and father says you must all meet and march 
immediately to Bunker Hill to oppose the 
enemy.’ 

“ I waited not but ran and got my arms and 
ammunition, and hastened to my company 
(who were in the church for barracks) and found 
them nearly ready to march. We soon marched 
with our frocks and trousers on over our other 
clothes, (for our company is in uniform wholly 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 147 

blue turned up with red) for we were loth to 
expose ourselves by our dress.” No service 
was more brilliant than that of these Con¬ 
necticut troops, who, on a broiling summer’s 
day, met the British, undeterred by the handicap 
of an extra suit of clothing. 

Colonel Richard Gridley, the chief engineer 
of the army, who planned the works on Breed’s 
Hill, also rendered notable service during the 
battle, and Colonel John Stark — afterwards 
the hero of Bennington — behaved with char¬ 
acteristic bravery during the attack, leading his 
New Hampshire men in a way which reflected 
lasting honor upon his state. 

The hero par excellence of the fight on Bunker 
Hill was, however, Dr. Joseph Warren, who, 
three days before, had been elected major-* 
general, but whose commission had not yet been 
received by him. He is said to have disapproved 
the occupation of so exposed a situation, but, 
when this action was decided upon, he resolved 
to share the peril of it, replying to the affectionate 
remonstrance of Elbridge Gerry: “ Dulce el 
decorum est pro patria mori” The day before 
the battle he officiated as president of the pro¬ 
vincial congress, and that night he slept at 
Watertown. When he awoke, on the morning 
of the seventeenth, he was feeling very ill, and 
it was only by the exercise of considerable for¬ 
titude that he managed to journey to Cambridge, 


148 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

where almost as soon as he arrived he threw him¬ 
self on a bed. Yet the instant he heard that the 
British were about to attack the works on Breed’s 
Hill, he declared his headache to be gone. Then, 
after attending a hasty meeting with the Com¬ 
mittee of Safety, he armed himself and went to 
Charlestown. Putnam asked him for orders, 
but Warren declined to give any, inquiring 
only where he could be most useful. Putnam 
directed him to the redoubt, remarking that 
there he would be covered, but Warren instantly 
replied: “ Don’t think I come to seek a place 
of safety; tell me where the onset will be most 
furious.” Again Putnam pointed to the re¬ 
doubt adding: “ That is the enemy’s object, 
and if that can be defended the day is ours.” 

Warren thereupon passed to the redoubt, 
where the men received him with cheers of 
enthusiasm. Prescott, who was only a colonel, 
and knew that, save for a technicality, Warren 
would have been his major-general, here tendered 
him the command, just as Putnam had done. 
But again this honor was declined. Then the 
soldier physician mingled in the fight, defending 
with great bravery the redoubt which he was 
one of the last to leave. In his retreat he seemed 
unconscious of the balls whizzing all about him, 
but he had proceeded only a few rods when 
one struck him in the face and he fell to the 
ground, — dead. General Howe could scarcely 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 149 

credit this news when it came to him. Then he 
declared that “ that victim was worth five hun¬ 
dred of his men.” 

One of the British officers who was slain was 
Pitcairn, who did not yield his place until he 
had received four balls in his body. “ I have 
lost my father,” his son exclaimed as he fell. 
“ We have all lost a father,” was the echo of 
the regiment. Burgoyne, who was directing 
the firing of batteries in the harbor, related 
that when Major Pitcairn was shot, his son 
carried him on his back to the boats, a quarter 
of a mile off, kissed him and instantly returned 
to his duty. “ This circumstance in the hands 
of a good painter or historian,” comments Bur¬ 
goyne, who had quite an eye for the dramatic, 
“ would equal most that can be found in an¬ 
tiquity.” 

The house recognized by historians as the 
one which sheltered Pitcairn during his mortal 
agony has been recently demolished. It was 
known as the Stoddard house because Thomas 
Stoddard, a boat-builder, lived there at the 
time, and assisted in carrying the wounded 
major there for treatment. As soon as General 
Gage heard that Pitcairn was wounded he 
summoned his own physician, Dr. Thomas Kast, 
and requested him to attend the patient, as the 
regular army surgeons were overwhelmed with 
work. Kast at once repaired to the Prince Street 


150 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

house, arriving there late in the afternoon. When 
he announced that he was come from General 
Gage, to do all that was possible to help the 
major in his distress, Pitcairn, always courte¬ 
ous, replied that he wished the doctor to thank 
the general for his kindness in remembering 
him, but added that he was afraid that he was 
beyond all human aid. 

Kast asked him where he was wounded, 
and on receiving a reply that it was “ Here, sir,” 
— Pitcairn indicating his breast, — the doctor 
started to remove the sheets to examine the 
wound. Pitcairn, however, objected, saying: 
“Excuse me; it is useless, my time is short. 
You cannot do anything for my relief; my 
wound must cause death immediately; I am 
bleeding fast internally.” 

Dr. Kast still persisted, saying that perhaps 
the wound was not as bad as the major supposed, 
and requested that he be allowed to examine 
it. 

Pitcairn replied: “ Doctor, excuse me; I 
know you can do nothing for me; do not argue 
the matter with me ... let me say a few words 
to you about my private concerns.” 

The doctor listened to such messages as the 
dying man had to leave for his friends, after 
which Pitcairn allowed the doctor to open his 
vest and examine the wound. As he did so 
the blood spurted out with great force, it is 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 151 

said, leaving stains on the floor, which remained 
there for many years. 

Dr. Kast did what he could to aid the dying 
major, and then returned to report the case 
to General Gage. Before he arrived for a second 
time at the house Major John Pitcairn had 
passed away. 

The room in which he died is generally 
supposed to have been the one which was just 
over the store. In the eighteenth century there 
was no shop located in the house, as in later 
days, living rooms being on all floors. Pit¬ 
cairn’s remains were placed under Christ 
Church and the story goes that when, some 
years afterward, they were sought to be sent 
back to England, another body was sent in their 
stead, owing to the difficulty of identification! 

As for Warren’s body, it was buried the next 
day on the spot where he fell by two young 
visitors to the battle-ground who recognized 
his well-known figure. In the following April the 
body was re-interred, with appropriate cere¬ 
monies, and deposited, “ first in the Tremont 
Cemetery and subsequently in the family vault 
under St. Paul’s church in Boston ” (Frothing- 
ham). Perhaps the most beautiful short tribute 
to the hero of Bunker Hill anywhere to be found 
was that pronounced by Abigail Adams in her 
letter to her husband. “ Not all the havoc and 
devastation they have made has wounded me 


152 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

like the death of Warren. We want him in 
the senate; we want him in his profession; we 
want him in the field. We mourn for the citizen, 
the senator, the physician and the warrior.” 

It is in the letters of Mrs. Adams, indeed, that 
we get the best contemporary account of the 
way in which the Battle of Bunker Hill looked 
to those chiefly interested. On Sunday, June 
18, she wrote: “The day — perhaps the de¬ 
cisive day — is come, on which the fate of 
America depends. My bursting heart must find 
vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear 
friend Dr. Warren is no more, but fell gloriously 
fighting for his country; saying, Better to die 
honorably in the field than ignominiously hang 
upon the gallows. Great is our loss. He has 
distinguished himself in every engagement by 
his courage and fortitude, by animating the 
soldiers and leading them on by his own ex¬ 
ample. ‘ The race is not to the swift, nor the 
battle to the strong;’ . . . Charlestown is laid 
in ashes. The battle began upon our intrench- 
ments upon Bunker’s Hill . . . and has not 
ceased yet, and it is now three o’clock Sabbath 
afternoon. ... The constant roar of the cannon 
is so distressing that we cannot eat drink or 
sleep. May we be supported and sustained in 
the dreadful conflict. I shall tarry here [she 
was at her home in Braintree] til it is thought 
unsafe by my friends; and then I have secured 




GENERAL HOWE. GENERAL BURGOYNE. 

Page 143 Page 143 


















































































































































































































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 153 

myself a retreat at your brother’s who has kindly 
offered me a part of his house.” 

In Boston itself, now that the battle had been 
waged and the people had proved that they could 
fight, there was real distress for the Americans. 
In a letter written to her husband early in July 
Mrs. Adams says: “ The present state of the 
inhabitants of Boston is that of the most abject 
slaves, under the most cruel and despotic of 
tyrants. Among many instances I could mention 
let me relate one. Upon the seventeenth of June 
printed handbills were posted up at the corners 
of the streets and upon houses, forbidding any 
inhabitants to go upon their houses or upon any 
eminence on pain of death; the inhabitants 
dared not to look out of their houses nor to be 
heard or seen to ask a question. Our pris¬ 
oners were brought over to the long wharf and 
there lay all night, without any care of their 
wounds, or any resting-place but the pavements, 
until the next day when they exchanged it for the 
jail. Their living cannot be good as they have 
no fresh provisions; their beef we hear is all 
gone and their wounded men die very fast, so 
that they have a report that the bullets are pois¬ 
oned. Fish they cannot have, they have ren¬ 
dered it so difficult to procure; and the admiral 
is such a villain as to oblige every fishing- 
schooner to pay a dollar every time it goes out. 
The money that has been paid for passes is 


154 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

incredible. Some have given ten, twenty or 
thirty dollars to get out with a small proportion 
of their things! ” 

John Andrews could not get a pass, as we 
have seen, and even John Rowe, whose friends 
were almost all Tories and who himself leaned 
hard to Gage’s side, found himself forced to stay 
on in the beleaguered city. This was a measure 
of self-protection on the part of the British; they, 
feared that the city would be destroyed by 
the Americans unless some of their own kins¬ 
folk were kept there as hostages. Rowe’s 
Diary, usually illuminating, because it gives so¬ 
cial details as well as bare facts, is unfortunately 
missing for the period from the Battle of Bunker 
Hill to the end of that year. But John Andrews’ 
letters have taken us over the same ground, so 
we may very well skip now to the interesting 
entry made by Mr. Rowe on December 29, — 
which entry has already given us our chapter¬ 
heading: “ The Busy Body Acted tonight.” 
Rowe does not say where this theatrical per¬ 
formance took place, but we know from other 
sources that the scene of the festivity was in 
Faneuil Hall, and that the actors were a number 
of officers and ladies who had formed themselves 
into a Society for Promoting Theatrical Amuse¬ 
ments (under the patronage of General Howe) 
and who, in their announcement, stated that 
their own amusement and the benevolent pur- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 155 

pose of contributing to the relief of distressed 
soldiers, their widows and children, were the 
two objects they as “ Promoters ” had in mind. 



The performances at the Faneuil Hall play¬ 
house began at six o’clock, and the entrance fee 
was one dollar for the pit and a quarter of a 
dollar for the gallery. For some reason, either 
























156 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

because the play was immensely popular or from 
some difficulty with the currency, those in 
charge were obliged to announce after a few 
evenings: “ The managers will have the house 
strictly surveyed and give out tickets for the 
number it will contain. The most positive 
orders are given out not to take money at the 
door, and it is hoped gentlemen of the army will 
not use their influence over the sergeants who 
are door-keepers, to induce them to disobey that 
order as it is meant entirely to promote the ease 
and convenience of the public by not crowding 
the theatre.” 

Beside The Busybody, there were given in 
this improvised playhouse the tragedies of 
Tamerlane and Zara, and the farces of The 
Citizen and The Apprentice. The most notable 
piece presented was the local farce of The Block¬ 
ade of Boston written by General Burgoyne, 
who had a reputation as a wit and dramatist 
to sustain as well as high standing as an officer. 
Because Burgoyne has no standing at all with 
most Americans, however, I wish to give here 
a little sketch of the man himself before pro¬ 
ceeding to describe what happened at Faneuil 
Hall the evening his farce was produced. For 
one whom Lord Macaulay describes as the pos¬ 
sessor of “ wit, fashion and honor, an agreeable 
dramatic writer and an officer whose courage 
was never questioned ” deserves more consider a- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 157 

tion than opprobrious characterization as “ the 
man who caused the old South Church to be 
turned into a riding-school.” Particularly is 
other distinction his due, when we find that it 
was not his regiment at all which turned the 
ancient edifice to purposes of military exercise. 

John Burgoyne was born in the year 1722. 
His father was the second son of the third baro¬ 
net of the name, and his mother was the daughter 
and heiress of a wealthy London merchant. To 
the bitter tongue of Horace Walpole may be 
traced the slanderous assertion, long accepted 
as true, that Burgoyne was the natural son of 
Lord Bingley. All evidence, however, estab¬ 
lishes his parentage as above stated. Young 
Burgoyne entered the army at an early age and, 
when he was scarcely more than a boy, he made 
an imprudent marriage. For his wife was Lady 
Charlotte Stanley, daughter of one of England’s 
greatest peers, and, because the young people 
knew her father’s consent could not be gained, 
they summarily eloped. 

Now, charming and socially gifted though 
he was, even Burgoyne could not solve success¬ 
fully the problem of a living for two people on 
an income too small for one. So, in 1747, he 
retired from the army and took up his abode 
on the Continent. At this period the Burgoynes 
formed that friendship with the Franklands 
of Boston which was renewed, during the siege. 


158 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

by the widow (Agnes Surriage) of him who had 
formerly been collector of the Boston port. 

In 1757 Burgoyne went back to the army, 
and he served his country with great distinction 
in the numerous wars which England then had 
on her hands. Then during the period of the 
Seven Years Peace he travelled again, inci¬ 
dentally making the acquaintance in Germany 
of the Baroness Riedesel and her husband, — 
a friendship to which the Baroness refers in 
letters written while she was a prisoner in Cam¬ 
bridge. 

That Burgoyne was highly honored at this 
time of his life by the finest spirits in England 
is shown by the following letter from the Earl of 
Chatham: 

“ December 14, 1766. 

“ Dear Sir, 

“ I will not attempt to tell you how much 
pleasure and how much instruction I have re¬ 
ceived from the Observations &c which you 
were good enough to send me. It would not 
be less difficult to describe the sensations which 
the honour of the letter accompanying the Ob¬ 
servations have filled me with. Allow me to 
offer in one hasty line more real acknowledge¬ 
ments than the longest letter could contain; 
and to assure you that I count the minutes while 
indispensable business deprives me of the pleas¬ 
ure of seeing you. If Wednesday morning next 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 159 

at Eleven should suit your convenience, I shall 
be extremely happy in the honour of seeing you 
at that time. I am, with the truest esteem and 
most distinguished consideration, Dear Sir, 

“ Your most faithful and most obedient hum¬ 
ble servant 

“ Chatham.” 

With a handsome person, a manner the charm 
of which neither man nor woman could, it was 
said, easily resist, a genial kindly nature which 
drew all hearts towards him, a ready wit and a 
cultivated mind, Burgoyne was indeed, at this 
period, a favorite in high circles. Sir Joshua 
Reynolds was one of his intimate friends and, 
“ after Reynolds had painted his picture in 
1766, he and Burgoyne met constantly in the 
Green Room of Drury Lane, at the dinners of 
the Thursday Night Club, at the Star and Gar¬ 
ter, in fact at every place of amusement where 
the gay, the witty and the well-bred of London 
were gathered together.” 

All this while, too, Burgoyne was very happy 
in his home life, for the imprudent marriage 
had been one of deep and abiding affection, 
and a little fortune to which his wife soon suc¬ 
ceeded made the bread and butter side of life 
fairly easy. In 1769 he was returned to Parlia¬ 
ment from Preston. One of his constituents on 
this occasion, it is interesting to note in passing, 


160 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

was Richard Arkwright, who had recently ar¬ 
rived in the town to put up his first spinning 
jenny, and who was so destitute at the time 
that the suit in which he went to the polls 
to vote for Burgoyne had to be raised by a 
subscription! 

When George III decided to strengthen the 
army in America, Parliament by no means 
agreed that the step was necessary. Certain 
distinguished members saw clearly, indeed, that 
such action would greatly lessen the chances of 
an amicable adjustment of the difficulty. 
Charles Fox said that “ he could not consent 
to the bloody consequences of so silly a contest 
about so silly an object, conducted in the silliest 
manner that history or observation had ever 
furnished an instance of, and from which we 
were likely to derive nothing but poverty, 
disgrace, defeat and ruin.” Yet notwithstand¬ 
ing these and similar warnings, military rein¬ 
forcements were despatched to Boston, early 
in 1775, and in the spring of that year Major- 
Generals Sir William Howe, Clinton and Bur¬ 
goyne arrived in the rebellious town and placed 
themselves under the command of General 
Gage. 

Burgoyne had not sought this service. For 
several personal reasons he was distinctly dis¬ 
inclined, indeed, to the American post. On 
this account it is interesting to read his own 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 161 

annoyed description of the manner in which 
he was told of his appointment. Lord Barring¬ 
ton had sent for him and after a few desultory 
remarks, “ his lordship, with a sort of abrupt¬ 
ness something like what Horace recommends 
to an epic poet, launching instantly in medias 
res , said he ‘ hoped and did not doubt that every¬ 
thing in America would mend, when I and the 
two other generals for whom he was to make out 
letters of service should arrive there/ The 
perfect indifference of his countenance, the tone 
of voice, the whole manner of opening to 
me one of the most important, of the most 
unexpected and, as might naturally be sup¬ 
posed, the most disagreeable events of my life 
suited the idea I had ever entertained of his 
lordship’s feelings. . . . 

“ To separate for a length of time perhaps 
forever from the tenderest, the faithfulest, the 
most aimiable companion and friend that ever 
man was blest with — a wife in whom, in four 
and twenty years I never could find a momentary 
act of blame! The narrow circumstances, per¬ 
haps the distressed state in which she might 
find herself at my death, added severely to my 
anxieties. Men of the world in general are too 
callously composed to conceive what I endured. 
My intimates, even those of most sensibility, ac¬ 
quainted with the levities ... of my common 
course of life, might have wanted faith in my sin- 


162 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

cerity; I therefore concealed my heart from all; 
and I even suffered my dearest Charlotte herself 
— not, I hope, to doubt that I felt, — but 
rather to be ignorant how much I felt, than to 
expatiate on a subject that would be so afflicting 
to her in the tender and delicate state of her 
mind and health. . . . 

“ To General Howe I thought it a point of 
honor to mention that I wished myself em¬ 
ployed in some more active station than the mere 
inspection of a brigade. He answered that ‘ he 
owned he wished to avoid going to Boston if pos¬ 
sible.’ I knew the reason given publicly by all his 
friends for that wish was the obligation his family 
owed to the Bostonians, who had raised a 
monument to the late Lord Howe. However, 
I very soon discovered that the secret and real 
reason was the low opinion he held of the com- 
mander-in-chief as a soldier. I believe he did 
justice, with all the world, to his personal and 
private character, but dreaded acting imme¬ 
diately under the orders of an officer whose 
talents were far inferior to his command.” 

Burgoyne’s disinclination to leave England 
just then was in large measure due, as has been 
seen, to anxiety about the health of his wife. 
On the eve of his embarkation he wrote the 
King a letter explaining this, which he left in 
the hands of a friend with directions to deliver 
it in case of his death. It was never needed, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 163 

for the lady herself died in the autumn of 1776. 
But on the back of the letter says De Fon- 
blanque, in his admirable work on Burgoyne, 
is the entry: Though this letter was ren¬ 
dered useless by the death of Lady Charlotte 
I preserved the copy to show my thoughts of 
that excellent woman at different periods of 
my life.” The letter itself is a credit to Bur¬ 
goyne’s heart: 

“ Portsmouth, April 18th, 1775 

“ Sire, Whenever this letter shall be delivered 
to your majesty the writer of it will be no more. 
It may therefore be esteemed an address from 
beyond the grave, and under that idea I am 
persuaded your majesty will consider with 
indulgence both the matter and the expression. 

“ My purpose, sire, is to recommend to your 
royal protection Lady Charlotte Burgoyne, who 
at my death will have to combat the severest 
calamities of life, — a weak frame of body, 
very narrow circumstances, and a heart replete 
with those agonies which follow the loss of an 
object it has long held dear. . . . Your Majesty, 
acquainted with the value of female excellence, 
will hear without impatience a husband’s praises. 
I protest, with the sincerity of a man who medi¬ 
tates death while he writes, and calls God to 
witness to his testimony, that, in the great 
duties of life I do not know that Lady Charlotte 


164 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

ever committed a fault, except that, if a fault 
it can be called, of love and generosity, which 
directed her choice to me without consulting her 
family — even that is now cancelled in their 
eyes, upon a review of our happiness during 
a course of twenty-four years, no minute of 
which has been embittered except by sickness 
or separation. 

“ My heart tells me, Sire, that I am not 
presumptuous in this application. I received 
your Majesty’s commands for America with 
regret, the first sensation of that nature I ever 
experienced in a call for service, but I have 
not a less sense of duty; I have scorned to 
propose terms to my obedience, or to take ad¬ 
vantage of the crisis of receiving your royal 
orders to prefer a petition for the provision 
of my family. I rely on your Majesty’s heart 
to accept with indulgence this humble mark of 
my respect, and I take confidence to assure your 
Majesty that, whatever may be my fate in 
ensuing trials, I shall be found to my last 
moment, 

“ Your Majesty’s zealous soldier and most 
faithful subject 

J. Burgoyne.” 

Things in Boston proved to be even worse 
than Burgoyne had anticipated, and very soon 
he was sending back to England his understand- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 165 

ing of the reasons why the king’s troops had 
made so little headway. Gage, he felt positive, 
was not in the least the man for the place he 
held! “ I believe him capable,” he wrote, “ of 
figuring upon ordinary and given lines of con¬ 
duct; but his mind has not resources for great 
and sudden and hardy exertions, which spring 
self-suggested in extraordinary characters and 
generally overbear all opposition. ... I hope 
I shall not be thought to disparage my general 
and my friend in pronouncing him unequal to 
his situation when I add that I think it one in 
which Caesar might have jailed .” 

Burgoyne, a little further on, in the letter 
just quoted, laments the lack of spies, adding 
that, if the Americans had been taken in time, 
almost any of them might have been bought for 
English uses. That he was wrong in this I 
have no need, of course, to say. But that one 
American officer, General Charles Lee, prac¬ 
tically offered himself to Burgoyne there is 
unfortunately no doubt whatever. Lee was 
undoubtedly a man of considerable ability and 
great accomplishments, versed in the law, and 
fluent, not only in most of the Continental lan¬ 
guages but in several Indian dialects, also. 
He was, besides, a brave soldier. In the Ameri¬ 
can campaign against the French his service 
elicited high commendation, and he later served 
with distinction the English cause in Portugal, 


166 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Poland and Turkey. While in Portugal he was 
closely associated with Burgoyne and promptly 
upon that general’s arrival in Boston, he wrote 
to bid him welcome. De Fonblanque quotes 
this letter and one or two others from the re¬ 
markable correspondence which ensued. But 
the interview therein suggested never came off, 
and Lee continued to be a major-general on the 
American side. In 1778, he was brought to a 
court martial by Washington for insubordina¬ 
tion, and Lafayette has left it on record that 
the only time he ever heard Washington swear 
was when, about this time, he called General 
Charles Lee a “ damned poltroon.” In another 
place I have given a rather careful sketch of 
this soldier of fortune, so I will not longer allow 
his vagaries to delay the rising of the curtain 
upon Burgoyne’s piece, “ The Blockade of 
Boston.” 

It was booked to be given for the first time 
on any stage at Faneuil Hall on the evening of 
January 8, 1776. The comedy of the Busybody 
had already been acted, and the orchestra was 
playing an introduction for the farce, when the 
actors behind the scenes heard an exaggerated 
report of a raid made upon Charlestown by a 
small party of Americans. One of the actors, 
dressed for his part, that of a Yankee sergeant, 
came forward upon the stage, called silence, and 
informed the audience that the alarm guns 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 167 

had been fired and that Charlestown was the 
scene of a battle. 

Taking this for the opening portion of the 
new piece the audience applauded enthusiasti¬ 
cally. Then, suddenly, an order was given 
in dead earnest for the officers to return to their 
posts. Naturally the hall was thrown into 
dire confusion at this, the officers jumping over 
the orchestra, at great expense to the fiddles, 
the actors rushing wildly about in their eager¬ 
ness to get rid of their make-up and costumes, 
the ladies alternately fainting and screaming. 
But they had to revive themselves and get home 
as best they could — those ladies. For some 
time it was the chief delight of the patriot dames 
to relate how the feminine portion of the revel¬ 
lers were obliged to pick their way home through 
the dark Boston streets unattended by any of 
their usual escorts. The News Letter published 
by Madam Draper all through the Siege, duly 
reports the incident, and adds: “ As soon as 
those parts in the Boston Blockade which are 
vacant by some gentlemen being ordered to 
Charlestown can be filled, that farce will be 
performed, with the tragedy of Tamerlane.” 
Rowe’s Diary records that the play actually 
came off on January 22. 

Yet, try as they would to divert themselves, 
it was mighty dull work for the officers as well 
as for the Americans to stay cooped up through 


168 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the dismal winter months on the little peninsula 
that then constituted Boston. In its physical 
features the Boston of the period was much 
nearer to that occupied by Blackstone than to 
the Boston of to-day. It still had its three rough 
hills, — Copp’s, Fort and the three-headed 
Beacon Hill; its coves, including the mill pond, 
bounded roughly by what we now know as 
Prince, Salem, Hanover, Hawkins, Green and 
Leverett Streets, and it was dammed by the 
causeway, — now Causeway Street, — and con¬ 
nected with the harbor by the mill creek. The 
Common ended in a marsh a little below where 
Charles Street now borders it. The whole 
peninsula comprised less than a thousand acres, 
being about a mile and three quarters long from 
the neck to Winnisimmet Ferry and a little 
more than a mile wide at its widest point. There 
were no bridges connecting the town with the 
neighboring points of land, and when Lord 
Percy travelled out to Lexington to carry aid 
to Colonel Pitcairn he had perforce to go by 
way of Boston neck to Brookline and cross 
Brighton bridge, — the only one which then 
spanned Charles River. 

The population was now reduced to six 
thousand, five hundred and seventy-three by 
actual count — in July — exclusive of the troops 
with their wives and children. Of these the 
spiritual pastor was Dr. Andrew Eliot, whose 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 169 

congregation at the new North Church had been 
the largest in Boston for the years immediately 
preceding the Revolution. He had stayed on 
in the beleaguered town, fulfilling his duties 
as preacher faithfully, while acting, also, as 
the tender friend of the poor people, who were 
many of them in great need. Dr. Eliot pluckily 
preached the Thursday lecture as long as even 
“ two or three were gathered together ” to 
listen. But his Diary for November 30 (1775) 
notes pathetically: “ Preached T. L. The at¬ 
tendance of this lecture being exceedingly small 
and our work greatly increased in other respects, 
Dr. Mather and I, who since the departure 
of our other Brethren, had preached it alter¬ 
nately, thought proper to lay it down for the 
present. I preached the last sermon from these 
words in Rev. 2, ‘ Remember how thou hast 
received &c.’ An affecting occasion of laying 
down a lecture which had subsisted more than 
140 years. The small congregation was much 
moved at the conclusion.” 

For the officers King’s Chapel or Christ 
Church were the customary places of worship, 
while Trinity, the other Episcopal edifice, gave 
spiritual comfort to Rowe and his friends. 
The Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, Jr., was rector at 
Christ Church and Dr. Henry Caner was in 
charge of King’s Chapel. Both stuck to the 
regular Church of England service as long 


170 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

as they remained in the town, which was until 
the evacuation. At Trinity, on the contrary, a 
slight effort was made to accommodate the 
liturgy to the patriotic feelings of the time and, 
when Rev. Dr. William Walter, the rector, de¬ 
parted for Halifax with the British troops, 
Rev. Samuel Parker, his assistant, was per¬ 
suaded by the good Dr. Eliot to remain at his 
post in order that Episcopalians might not be 
wholly left without a shepherd. 

In the Hollis Street Church of Mather Byles, 
Sr., troops had been quartered and the old West 
Church and the Brattle Street Church were 
similarly requisitioned. As for the church in 
North Square — it was pulled down for fuel; 
and the Old South, as every copy-book tells us, 
was used for a riding-school. In justice to 
General Howe it should, however, be said 
that at the time of the evacuation, when the 
temptation to despoil the enemy’s property was 
very great, he made every effort to restrain his 
men. Once he even sent out this drastic order: 
“ The commander in chief, finding, that not¬ 
withstanding former orders that have been given 
to forbid plundering, houses have been forced 
open and robbed, he is therefore under the 
necessity of declaring to the troops that the 
first soldier who is caught plundering will be 
hanged on the spot.” 

Concerning the fine mansions of which the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 171 

British took possession there is little that is 
startling to relate. These officers were gentle¬ 
men and they did no harm to the houses they 
occupied. Even Hancock’s house, upon Gen¬ 
eral Washington’s report, received no damage 
worth mentioning, the furniture and the family 
pictures being unmolested. General Clinton 
was the tenant here, while Burgoyne occupied 
the Bowdoin mansion, situated where the Uni¬ 
tarian Building now stands. Howe, like Gage 
before him, had his headquarters in the Prov¬ 
ince House. Occasionally, of course, an officer 
in his cups would forget himself, and it is to one 
such, no doubt, that we owe the attack upon 
the picture celebrated by Oliver Wendell Holmes 
in his poem, “ Dorothy Q.” Holmes himself 
told the story as follows: 

“ The painting hung in the house of my grand¬ 
father, Oliver Wendell, which was occupied 
by British officers before the evacuation of 
Boston. One of these gentlemen amused him¬ 
self by stabbing poor Dorothy (the pictured one) 
as near the right eye as his swordsmanship 
would serve him to do it. The canvas was so 
decayed that it became necessary to remount 
the painting, in the process of doing which 
the hole made by the rapier was lost sight of.” 
In his poem, it will be recalled, Holmes prom¬ 
ises the little maid to 

“ , . . heal the stab of the Red-Coat’s blade,’* 


172 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

a promise which he surely may be said to have 
amply kept. 

None of the pastimes, honorable or other¬ 
wise, in which the British shut up in Boston 
indulged could change the fact that they had 
not enough to eat, and that the provisions 
which they did get were often not of the best. 
The Yankees outside had a joke that the Town 
Bull, aged twenty, was killed and cut up for the 
officers’ mess. Small favors were very grate¬ 
fully received, too, when they took the form of 
food. “ Why should I complain of hard fare,” 
one officer in the town wrote his father. “ Gen¬ 
eral Gage and all his family have for this month 
past lived upon salt provision. Last Saturday 
General Putnam, in the true style of military 
complaisance which abolishes all personal re¬ 
sentment and smooths the horrors of war when 
discipline will permit, sent a present to General 
Gage’s lady of a fine quarter of veal, which was 
very acceptable and received the return of 
a very polite card of thanks.” 

One account, dated the middle of December, 
says: “ The distress of the troops and inhabit¬ 
ants in Boston is great beyond all possible 
description. Neither vegetables, flour nor pulse 
for the inhabitants; and the king’s stores so 
very short none can be spared from them; no 
fuel and winter set in remarkably severe. The 
troops and inhabitants absolutely and literally 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 173 

starving for want of provisions and fire. Even 
salt provision is fifteen pence sterling per pound.” 
After reading which one is more disposed to 
forgive the destruction of the old John Win- 
throp house for purposes of firewood. 

Those inhabitants of the town who had money 
to spend did not lack necessities, though, if 
we may trust the testimony of our old friend, 
John Andrews, who writing at the end of the 
siege says: “ I am well in health, thank God, 
and have been the whole of the time, but have 
lived at the rate of six or seven hundred sterling 
a year; for I was determined to eat fresh pro¬ 
visions while it was to be got, let it cost what it 
would; that since October I have scarce eat 
three meals of salt meat, but supplied my 
family with fresh at the rate of one shilling to 
one shilling sixpence sterling the pound. What 
wood was to be got was obliged to give at the 
rate of twenty dollars a cord, and coals, though 
government had a plenty I could not procure 
(not being an addressor or an associate) though 
I offered so high as fifty dollars for a chaldron 
and that at a season when Nabby and John, 
the only help I had, were under inoculation for 
the small-pox, that, if you’ll believe me, Bill, 
I was necessitated to burn horse-dung.” 

M Many were the instances,” he continues, 
“ of the inhabitants being confined to the pro¬ 
vost for purchasing fuel of the soldiers, when 


174 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


no other means offered to keep them from per¬ 
ishing with cold, yet such was the inhumanity 
of our masters that they were even denied the 
privilege of buying the surplusage of the sol¬ 
diers’ rations. Though you may think we had 
plenty of cheese and porter yet we were obliged 




? Here lies buried in a 
'Stone Crave 10 feef deep 
/Cap. Daniel Malcom^ 
who departed this Life 
October 23 a 1 769 
Aged 44 Years 
a true son of Liberty 
a Friend to the Publick 
an Enemy to opprefsion 
and one of the forcmoft 
in oppofing the Revenue Ads 
on America 




Here lies buried 
the Body of 
K”Ann Malcom 
Widow of 
I Ca P Daniel Malcom 

died April 4* 1770 | 
, **^4° Years 


STONE IN COPP’S HILL, USED AS A TARGET BY BRITISH SOLDIERS 


to give from fifteen pence to two shillings a 
pound for all we ate of the former, and a loaf 
of bread of the size we formerly gave three¬ 
pence for thought ourselves well off to get for 
a shilling. Butter at two shillings. Milk, for 
months without tasting any. Potatoes from 
nine shillings to ten shillings and sixpence a 
bushel and everything else in the same strain.” 


















OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 175 

Very soon after the Battle of Bunker Hill, 
General Howe succeeded Gage in the direction 
of the soldiers in Boston, and in his large mili¬ 
tary family things went on in fairly orderly 
fashion. The number of the troops (including 
women and children) was about fourteen thou¬ 
sand. Of these seven hundred men lived in bar¬ 
racks on Bunker Hill, while, of the remainder, 
all who were not stationed at the castle or on 
board the fleet, lived in the town itself, some at 
the Common, some in the intrenchments at the 
neck and in the fortification on Copp’s Hill. 
(Those on the hill amused themselves by shoot¬ 
ing at the gravestones erected there to patriots.) 
Some, as we have already seen, were quartered 
in houses. Looking back it is difficult to under¬ 
stand Howe’s inaction, but the fact is that he 
believed the American army to be much stronger 
than it really was and, after the experience of 
Bunker Hill, the matter of occupying some of the 
posts commanding the town, — such as Dor¬ 
chester Heights, — did not seem to him an 
entirely easy proposition. To Lord Dartmouth 
he wrote that the opposing army was not " any 
ways to be despised; it had in it, many Euro¬ 
pean soldiers, and all or most of the young men 
of spirit in the country, who were exceedingly 
diligent and attentive in their military profes¬ 
sion.” The best that he could hope to do was 
to remove his army, unimpaired in strength, to 


176 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

New York, as soon as the necessary transports 
should be available. 

But the men over whom Washington had been 
made commander-in-chief, immediately after 
Bunker Hill, were by no means the well-regu¬ 
lated body they were generally thought to be. 
Stealing, drunkenness, disobedience and de¬ 
sertion had to be combated constantly by the 
officers, and those who best understood the actual 
situation almost despaired, for a time, of ever 
finding in the men at Cambridge a strong in¬ 
strument for either attack or defence. General 
Greene wrote of them: “ They are naturally 
as brave and spirited as the peasantry of any 
other country; but you cannot expect veterans 
of a raw militia of only a few months’ service. 
The common people are exceedingly avari¬ 
cious; the genius of the people is commercial 
from their long intercourse with trade. The 
sentiment of honor, the true characteristic of 
the soldier has not yet got the better of interest.” 

Yet there was, of course, a great deal of 
quiet heroism in that camp across the river from 
Boston. Many simple affectionate men were 
there who longed greatly to return to their 
homes, and yet remained steadfastly at their 
posts. One such was William Turner Miller, 
who wrote his wife: “ Dearest Lydia, I received 
your kind letter by Mr. Burr as also the Ink- 
stand Corn & Cucumber you sent Every letter 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 177 

& present from you is Like a Cordial to me in 
my absence from you my Heart is delighted 
in Reading Your Letters Especially when on 
the Countenance of them you Appear to be in 
Health and when you appear by your Letters 
to be in Trouble I Long to participate with you.” 

Here, as in the Boston camp, there was every 
kind of accommodation for the soldiers. “ It 
is very diverting to walk among the camps,” 
wrote the Rev. Mr. Emerson, who visited Cam¬ 
bridge just after Washington’s arrival. “ They 
are as different in their form as the owners are 
in their dress and every tent is a portraiture 
of the temper and taste of the persons who en¬ 
camp in it. Some are made of boards and some 
of sail-cloth. Some partly of one and some 
partly of the other. Again, others are made of 
stone and turf, brick and brush. Some are 
thrown up in a hurry; others curiously wrought 
with doors and windows done with wreaths 
and withes in the manner of a basket. Some 
are your proper tents and marquees looking like 
the regular camp of the enemy.” 

The critical time for Washington came at 
the close of the year, — just when the chief 
concern of the British officers was the proper 
production of Burgoyne’s farce! For the 
commander-in-chief of the American forces 
had to face the problem of disbanding one 
army and recruiting another within musket 


178 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

shot of the enemy. Moreover, he was almost 
without powder! At one time it was suddenly 
discovered that there was only half a pound 
of powder to a man. General Sullivan writes 
that when General Washington heard of this 
he was so much struck by the danger “ that he 
did not utter a word for half an hour.” Then 
messengers were despatched to all the Southern 
colonies to call in their stores, and a rule was 
sent out that every person who fired his gun 
without positive orders would be punished 
immediately by a regimental court martial. A 
favorite diversion, before this, had been that 
of firing at geese as they passed over the camp. 

Washington had long ago wished to attack 
Boston, but he could not get his officers to 
agree with him that this was an advisable step 
to take. Yet he urged it so earnestly and so 
repeatedly that, on December 22, after long and 
serious debate, Congress passed a resolution 
authorizing him to make an assault upon the 
British forces “ in any manner he might think 
expedient notwithstanding the town and property 
in it might be destroyed.” Upon the receipt 
of this resolution, the Chief again called a council 
of war and pointed out, that, in his judgment, 
“ it was indispensably necessary to make a 
bold attempt to conquer the ministerial troops 
in Boston before they could be reinforced in 
the spring, if the means should be provided 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 179 

and a favorable opportunity should offer.” The 
result of this council was a requisition on Massa¬ 
chusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire for 
thirteen regiments of militia. But there was 
still a pitiful scarcity of military stores. “ Near 
two thousand men now in camp are without 
firelocks,” Washington wrote on February 9 
and, on the next day, he declared in a letter to 
Joseph Reed: “ My own situation is so irksome 
to me at times, that if I did not consult the 
public good more than my own tranquillity, I 
should long ere this have put everything on the 
cast of a die. So far from my having an army 
of twenty thousand men well armed, I have 
been here with less than one half of that num¬ 
ber, including sick, furloughed and on command, 
and those neither armed nor clothed as they 
should be. In short, my situation is such that 
I have been obliged to use art to conceal it 
from my own officers.” 

But the time was now at hand for decisive 
action. As March came in, in its usual breezy 
fashion, the militia of the towns next to Dor¬ 
chester and Roxbury were ordered to repair to 
the lines at these places, instantly upon a signal 
being given, carrying with them their arms, am¬ 
munitions and accoutrements. The plan was 
to occupy Dorchester Heights and so draw the 
British into some kind of movement. But 
Washington kept this plan carefully secret, 


180 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

and for the three nights of Saturday, Sunday 
and Monday, the 2nd, 3d, and 4th of March, 
a furious cannonade was directed upon the 
enemy from Cobble Hill, Lechmere’s Point and 
Lamb’s Dam with the intention of diverting 
attention. Then, on the third night, under the 
direction of Gridley, who had planned the works 
on Bunker Hill, and of Colonel Rufus Putnam, 
a son of the general, intrenchments were erected 
on Dorchester Heights, and men were marched 
to defend them while in Boston the unconscious 
British slept the sleep of the over-confident. 

For the rest of the story we cannot do better 
than turn to the journal of a young lieutenant 
in a Connecticut regiment who has left a vivid 
and minute description of the evacuation of 
Boston, — and of the events immediately pre¬ 
ceding it, — as it appeared to an eye-witness 
immensely interested in all that was going on. 1 

Under the date of January 8,1776, he records : 
“About three o’clock came into camp at Rox- 
bury, found our company in the house that Col. 
Huntingdon lately occupied, fixed our straw 
buncks, prepared our lodgins and went to bed a 
little after 8 o’clock; was soon alarmed on the 
other side of the water; dressed myself, went up 
on the hill, where I saw a small village near the 
water, on the west of Charlestown, in flames. 
January 9. — After breakfast went over 

1 [Quoted in the Historical Magazine, 1864, vol. 8, page 326.] 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 181 

to Col. Parson’s regiment; saw Lieut. Baldwin 
and some others; drank some sling with them 
at Eldredge’s; went into the regiment where I 
lit of Ensign Lyman, and drank some flip with 
him; saw a man who was in last night’s attack 
on Charlestown, by whom I learned that about 
four hundred men under Major Knowlton were 
sent there to burn the houses left standing by 
the Regulars when they burnt the rest of the 
town last June [at the Battle of Bunker Hill] 
which they effected with great success, burning 
all the houses except two or three, and took five 
prisoners without the loss of a man. 

“ January 10. — After breakfast took a view of 
the town where we encamped last summer; 
now a desolate place, the tents all struck and 
carried off, the chimneys left partly standing 
and partly thrown down; but none of my com¬ 
panions with whom I have spent so many 
agreeable hours now appear there, nor will they 
again for some are already numbered with the 
dead. 

“January 11. — After breakfast went up 
onto our regimental parade where I lit of one 
Lieut. Pidge of the minute men who belongs 
in Attleboro, as he tells me. I find him an 
honest uncultivated fellow who talked very 
sensibly and freely on the two capital vices of 
the country viz. the tyranny and pride of the 
Clergy (or as he calls them, the Bandeliers) and 


182 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

enslaving the Africans; he made many just 
observations thereon but in coarse vulgar lan¬ 
guage. 

“ Sunday, January 14. — About two o’clock 
went to my friend Burrell’s where we dined on a 
noble good turkey, after which I sat awhile 
with him, his wife and some other ladies. 

“ January 18. — After breakfast, I took a 
walk up on the hill, and from there down to 
General Spencer’s. Coming back I met Capt 
Mills who informed me of a report in camp that 
General Montgomery had been defeated near 
Quebec; but the Report being told several ways 
we hope it is groundless. 

“ Sunday January 21. — After breakfast took 
a walk up into the woods beyond Parker’s the 
Butcher and wrote twelve lines more of the Poem 
1 have in hand, viz: 

* Can any one whom Heaven’s care hath bless’d/ — 

u Sunday Feb. 4. — Went to the Hospital 
about 1 o’clock and attended the funeral of 
Charles Wright of our company. He was buried 
in a new Burying Place at the south end of 
Jamaica Pond. ... In the evening had con¬ 
siderable discourse with Capt Jewett on the 
subjects of Religion &c. 

“ Feb 14. — Just before day-light we were 
alarmed by seeing all the buildings on Dor- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 183 

Chester Neck in flames, which made a grand 
appearance. While viewing them I lost a sly 
dog of a prisoner, who made his escape from the 
Guard. Had a good breakfast of fried eels, 
after which, feeling unwell, took a nap. 

“ Feb. 19. — Made an evening visit at Col, 
Wyllys where met a number of gentlemen: 
while there Col. Robinson and Mr Chase came 
in with little Ashley who was about to engage 
Maj. Park in a duel, which was a matter of great 
diversion to the company. 

“ Feb. 26. — After breakfast, Lieut. Harris 
and I set off for Cambridge, with Mr. Griffin, 
Capt Darrow, Ensign Pendleton &c. Obliged 
to go round by sign of the Punch Bowl on ac¬ 
count of the bridge over the creek being broken 
to pieces by the ice: Arrived at Cambridge 
about 11 o’clock, and went into a tavern for 
refreshement, where we found Captain Giles 
Wolcott; then went over to the Colleges and 
to the Artillery Park, where we spent some time 
in viewing the Artillery and other warlike stores; 
then went to Prospect Hill, where we saw Gen¬ 
erals Putnam and Sullivan viewing the works 
. . , came into town called in to see Lieut 
Adams where we found several officers playing 
cards, we here drank some toddy and dined on 
fresh codfish, fried. Set off for home, called 
in at a tavern in Brookline where we drank 
some flip with Capt Mason from Lebanon. 


184 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


Our next remove we reached Capt. Darrow's 
quarters where we were very agreeably enter¬ 
tained by Dr. Eley’s singing. . . . 

“ March 2. — I took a walk up to the Meeting 
House; saw the train at work fixing shells &c; 
also saw four mortars which were brought over 
from Cambridge. A mighty report prevails 
that the militia of the neighboring towns for 
twenty miles around are ordered to our assist¬ 
ance in the intended attack on Boston.” 

Our poet-soldier then proceeds to describe 
this attack, dwelling particularly on the masterly 
way in which Dorchester Heights had been 
fortified for it. Yet he does not even mention 
in connection with this strategic move the name 
of General Artemas Ward to whom recently dis¬ 
covered letters from Washington assign credit for 
tke step. The nearest he comes to it is in a ref¬ 
erence to “ Gen. Putnam and some other big of¬ 
ficers .” (All of which interestingly bears out the 
contention of General Dearborn that General Put¬ 
nam was at that time a much over-estimated per¬ 
son. “ He had entered our army,” wrote Dearborn 
in 1818 in the course of his published Account 
of the Battle of Bunker Hill, “ at the commence¬ 
ment of the Revolutionary War with such 
universal popularity as can scarcely now be 
conceived even by those who then felt the whole 
force of it and no one can at this time offer any 
satisfactory reasons why he was held in such 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 185 

high estimation. I heard the gallant Colonel 
Prescott, observe after the war, at the table 
of his Excellency James Bowdoin, then gov¬ 
ernor of this Commonwealth,” adds Dearborn, 
with evident relish, “ ‘ that he [Prescott] sent 
three messengers during the battle to Gen. 
Putnam, requesting him to come forward and 
take the command, — there being no general 
officer present, and the relative rank of the 
colonel not having been settled; but that he 
received no answer and that Putnam’s whole 
conduct was such, both during the action and 
the retreat, that he ought to have been shot.’ ” 
For, according to General Dearborn, Putnam 
kept too constantly, on this occasion, to the back 
declivity of Bunker Hill. Obviously, General 
Dearborn and Colonel Prescott had not been 
hypnotized by him.) 

Sunday March 10 ” our lieutenant has some¬ 
thing very interesting to write down in his 
journal: “ By late movements in Boston it 
appears they are vastly alarmed; and that 
the enemy are conveying away their treasure 
with all speed; many think they will soon leave 
the town. About 4 this p. m. I went with Lieut. 
Harris upon the hill and saw upwards of 20 
vessels under sail, going out of the harbor. 

“ Sunday March 17. — While at breakfast 
was alarmed by the drums beating to arms and 
the regiments were immediately hurried out. 


186 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

I went up to the north of Ruggles Fort where 

1 observed some very peculiar movements of 
the shipping; they continued falling down the 
harbor many of them surrounded with great 
numbers of boats till about noon. Then, I 
hear, the Selectmen of Boston came out to 
Roxbury and informed the Generals that the 
British troops had all embarked and left the 
town; whereupon a detachment from our army 
marched in with the American Standard dis¬ 
played, and took possession of the town about 

2 p. m. A party from Cambridge in boats landed 
on the Common at the same time. 

“ I met with some trouble this night with a 
praying sentry,” adds the poet in anticlimax, 
“ which is not very common in camp. Walked 
out to Brookline before dinner with Lieut. 
Chamberlin and bought half a quire of paper 
at the moderate rate of 3s 4d. 

“ March 19. — This evening the regulars 
blowed up part of the Castle and burnt the 
block-house on the lower point. 

“ March 20. — A little after sunrise, hearing 
a considerable cannonade down to the Castle, 
I went up on to the Hill and viewed the Castle, 
fort &c. Several guns were fired at the Castle 
while I was looking on. About 2 p. m. I went 
down to the old Boston fortifications and saw 
with great pleasure the curious works of the 
Regulars with many cannon &c which they left 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 187 


on the ground. Returned about sunset and 
received one month’s wages, £5 8. At about 
nine o’clock was going to bed, but observed a 
bright light down toward the Castle, went on 
to the Hill, where I had a fair prospect of the 
upper Block house and the large Barrack, with 
several other buildings on Castle Island all in 
flames, which so illuminated the air, that al¬ 
though it was a dark night, yet out of curiosity, 
I read part of a letter lately received from my 
wife. . . . 

" March 25. — Went up to our upper fort from 
which I saw part of the British fleet under sail. 

“ March 28. — Went over to Cambridge; 
walked through the Burying Ground where I 
saw many monuments. Afterwards I met 
one Mr. Lambert, a Boston gentleman lately 
settled in Cambridge, who showed me the famous 
country-seats of Governor Oliver, Mr. Fayer- 
weather, General Brattle, the Vassals and several 
other Tories who have fled to the ministerial 
army for refuge, and thereby sold their country. 
I took a view of the artillery on Cambridge 
Common where I observed among other valuable 
pieces the famous ‘ Congress ’ hooped up with 
bands of iron in the most shocking manner as if 
she had been ailing. Called at the college and 
bought a newspaper and proceeded immediately 
to Bunker Hill where I viewed the grand forti¬ 
fications of the ministerialists which are indeed 


188 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

vastly formidable and equal, perhaps superior, 
to any in New England. Then viewed the ruins 
of Charlestown, a place beautifully situated 
and advantageous for trade. Not a single 
building remains standing except a few bar¬ 
racks, block houses and huts erected by the 
British for their own necessity. It was thought 
to contain over one thousand houses before its 
destruction. ... It is said that the British 
fleet sailed out of our harbor this morning and 
that one of the transports was drove on shore 
in such a manner it is to be hoped she will not 
be got off. 

“ March 29. — About noon Lieut. Waterman 
and I went into town up as far as the old South 
Meeting House and viewed the horrible de¬ 
struction the ministerial troops had made in this 
famous building which is no less than 86 feet in 
length and 62 in width exclusive of the porches. 
The whole inside of this great house is entirely 
taken out except the gallery on one side and a 
great quantity of gravel laid on the floor to 
make it convenient place to exercise their horses in. 

“ March 30. — After breakfast all the officers 
of our company went into Boston. We called 
at several shops to buy such articles as we needed. 
Also went to Faneuil Hall to see the market 
mightily thronged with people. Observed the 
distinction made by the regulars in this elegant 
building in order to fix it for a playhouse; . . . 



ROSTON IN 1774 FROM DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 

Page 179 














COPPS HILL BURYING GROUND 
Page 189 


























OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 189 

we then proceeded to Beacon Hill where the 
agreeable prospect is vastly pleasing. We 
viewed the grand seat of the celebrated Col. 
Hancock together with the Almshouse and ad¬ 
jacent parts of the Common, walked through 
the town, observed two very large burying yards, 
the famous Stone Chapel and then came home. 

“ April 2. — After breakfast went to Col. 
Huntingdon’s where received my old ration 
money of Quartermaster Fanning £3, 10. 0. 
Met Capt Peters and went with him into Boston 
again. Saw a peculiar scuffle between a soldier 
and an Irish woman. Went to the Town House 
and viewed all parts of this elegant building 
though much damaged by the troops. From 
the turret had an agreeable prospect of the differ¬ 
ent parts of the town; thence the North end 
to Dr. Cutler’s church and burying ground and 
a three gun battery on Copp’s Hill. Thence 
to Hancock’s wharf where I saw a number 
of men dragging the harbor with a grapple for 
carriages &c which the enemy had thrown in. 
Saw Daniel Prentice selling bacon to the poor 
Bostonians. I then went up into the main street 
and with some difficulty obtained a dinner of 
codfish, hence to the Hay Market where I 
stopped some time to see the train remove a 
heavy cannon from that battery to Fort Hill, 
thence to Herman Brimmer’s where I bought two 
pair of stockings/ 5 


CHAPTER VIII 


A PAINTER OF FAIR WOMEN 

T HE painter in question is, of course, John 
Singleton Copley, who was born in 
Boston in 1737, and who left his native 
town, never to return, just before the outbreak 
of the Revolution. In calling Copley a painter 
of fair women, I have no wish, however, to 
detract from his reputation as a painter of 
men, also; for it is to him that we owe the stately 
pictures we inevitably associate with the names 
of John Hancock, John Adams and scores of 
other patriots. 

Yet it is certainly true that there is a sensi¬ 
bility and beauty in his pictures of girls and 
women for which one seeks in vain in many of 
his male portraits. Very likely the dress of the 
women has something to do with this, for he 
delighted in the rich draperies and soft laces, the 
delicate textures and brilliant colors which 
characterized the female dress of his time. His 
granddaughter, Mrs. M. B. Amory, — who has 
written a capital biography of him, — even 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 191 

attributes to his taste and skill the beautiful 
costumes which we admire to-day in all the 
pictures of that period. In other words, his 
own feeling for line and color, in the dress of a 
woman who might be sitting to him, reacted 
upon the fashions of the time. “ He had theo¬ 
ries and principles,” says Mrs. Amory, “ which 
were carried out with a scrupulous elaboration, 
whose effect heightened the charm of the pic¬ 
ture. The rose, the jewel in the hair, the string 
of pearls around the throat, were no accidental 
arrangement, but according to principles of 
taste which he thoroughly understood. The 
hair ornamented in harmony with the full dress 
of the period; the fall of lace shading the round¬ 
ness and curve of the arm, were perhaps unim¬ 
portant details in themselves, but conduced, 
by their nice adjustment, to the harmonious 
effect of the composition. Added to these, 
he delighted to place his subject among kindred 
scenes: sometimes we catch a glimpse, in the 
distance, of garden or mansion; or at others of 
the fountain and the grove, the squirrel, that 
favorite of his brush, the bird and the spaniel, 
— all treated with equal grace and felicity.” 
This reference to the squirrel reminds us that 
it was through a masterly work in which that 
fascinating little creature figured that Copley 
first got his chance to be a famous London 
painter. 


192 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

The elder Copley died the year his son was 
born, and John’s stepfather, Peter Pelham, the 
painter and engraver, — who married Mrs. 
Mary Copley when John was about nine years 
old, — himself passed away two years after 
that marriage, leaving his widow so ill-provided 
for that she was forced to keep a tobacco-shop 
on Bowdoin Square to support herself. So the 
lad had no very careful education, and accord¬ 
ing to his own words never saw a good picture 
till after he left America. Some writers attribute 
to Smibert credit for Copley’s early skill, but 
as the visit of that painter to America (in com¬ 
pany with Dean Berkeley) came in 1728, — 
almost a decade before Copley was born, — 
and as Smibert died when Copley was only 
thirteen the “ influence ” in question could 
scarcely have been very direct. 

Family tradition tells us that Copley was, 
in truth, that exceedingly rare thing, — a natu¬ 
ral genius. He began to draw on the walls 
of his nursery before he had ever ventured far 
from that narrow field of action, and he taught 
himself to paint, — by painting. When he was 
seventeen he quietly announced that painting 
was to be his profession and, in 1760, when he 
was twenty-three, he proved to Europe as well 
as America that he had made no mistake in 
his choice of a calling. For that year he sent, 
without name or address, an exquisite portrait 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 193 

of his half-brother, Henry Pelham, to Benjamin 
West, a member of the Royal Academy, with 
the request to have it placed in the Exhibition 
Rooms. This picture, now well known as “ The 
Boy And The Flying Squirrel,” elicited from 
West at first sight the enthusiastic outburst: 
“ What delicious coloring, worthy of Titian 
himself! ” Yet he was at a loss what to do 
about the matter, as it was contrary to the rules 
of the Academy to place on its walls any picture 
by an unknown artist. West was perfectly 
sure, however, that this was the production of 
an American; he recognized in the wood on 
which the canvas was stretched the pine of the 
New World and he knew the squirrel to be 
such as is found only in the western forests. 
So, through his influence, this picture painted 
by a young countryman was admitted to the 
Exhibition, in spite of the rules. Later, the 
letter which identified the work as that of Peter 
Pelham’s stepson arrived. 

The attention and admiration excited by 
this remarkable painting were such that Cop¬ 
ley’s friends wrote most warmly to persuade 
him to go to England for the pursuit of his voca¬ 
tion, and West extended to him a hospitable 
invitation to be his guest in London. But the 
young man was now at the zenith, in Boston, of 
his success as a portrait painter, and he had an 
aged mother to support as well as his young 


194 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

stepbrother to train in habits of industry. Ac¬ 
cordingly, he put aside any thought of going 
abroad immediately and, with all diligence, 
pursued the work which was right at hand. 
There was then a great deal of wealth in and 
about Boston, and it came to be as much a matter 
of course for a rich man to have his wife or 
daughter painted by Copley as to send his son 
to Harvard. (Nearly three hundred portraits 
are credited to his brush during the twenty year 
period of his work in America.) By 1769, 
therefore, Copley was able to marry the lady of 
his choice, and that same year he made his 
initial investment in real estate. ' 

All the beauty of which Copley makes the 
most in his various portraits of women was 
possessed in an exquisite way by this woman 
he made his wife. Her name was Susannah and 
her father was Richard Clarke, a wealthy mer¬ 
chant of the town and agent for the East India 
Company. Like the rest of Copley’s subjects, 
she had neither toiled nor spun, — one can 
never associate any of his women with manual 
employment, — and her pictures show her to 
have had the high forehead and finely arched 
brow, as well as the delicately tapering fingers 
characteristic of a Copley woman. Moreover, 
her character was in harmony with her person. 
“ She appears,” says her biographer, “ to have 
been one of those rare women in whom the moral 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 195 


and mental qualities, joined to deep sensibility, 
are so nicely balanced that they exert the hap¬ 
piest influence over the home circle, cheering 
and enlivening without dazzling it.” 

The investment in real estate to which allusion 
has already been made, bore witness, as did 
the painting of this self-taught artist, to his 
keen sense of picturesque beauty. For, feeling 
that the time must surely come when Beacon 
Hill would be the favorite site for the homes of 
the wealthy and discriminating, he acquired 
there, for less than one hundred dollars an 
acre, a “ farm,” as he called it, which comprised 
over eleven acres. This estate may be said to 
have extended from Walnut Street, down Beacon 
Street to the river, with the back or hill line 
reaching through Walnut Street to Mt. Vernon 
Street and thence to Louisburg Square and 
across the square to Pinckney Street. The last- 
named street to the river formed its northern 
boundary. 

According to Nathaniel I. Bowditch, Boston’s 
old conveyancer, Copley’s first transaction in 
realty was the purchase in 1769 of East’s pasture, 
then so called, embracing two and a half acres, 
which in the old days was a part of Sewall’s 
elm pasture, and in connection with the East 
pasture, a tract of six acres in extent, known 
as the Blackstone lot, which latter lot was a part 
of the town’s original grant of fifty acres to 


196 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

William Blackstone, who was Boston’s first 
settler. 

The land was purchased by Peter Chardon, 
an administrator of the estate of one Andrew 
Cunningham. In 1770 Copley also secured 
another parcel of the original Sewall pasture, also 
two and one-half acres in extent. This latter 
tract extended from Walnut Street along Beacon 
Street, toward the river for two hundred and 
sixty feet, and running back to Mt. Vernon 
Street, the line traversing diagonally through the 
lots on both sides of Chestnut Street. 

Such was the “ farm ” of Boston’s painter 
of 1770. Here he took up his residence, dis¬ 
pensing hospitality in princely style, and rearing 
his family of children. A snap-shot picture of 
him in his own background here is given us by 
Colonel John Trumbull in his Autobiography: 
“ In January 1772 I was sent to Cambridge 
under the care of my brother, who, in passing 
through Boston indulged me by taking me to 
see the works of Mr. Copley. His house was on 
the Common where Mr. Sears elegant grand 
palazzo stands [now occupied by the Somerset 
Club]. A mutual friend of Mr. Copley and my 
brother, Mr. James Lovell, went with us to 
introduce us. We found Mr. Copley dressed 
to receive a party of friends at dinner. I re¬ 
member his dress and appearance, — an elegant¬ 
looking man, dressed in a fine maroon cloth, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 197 

with gilt buttons. This was dazzling to my 
unpracticed eye. But his paintings, the first 
I had ever seen deserving the name, riveted, 
absorbed my attention, and renewed all my 
desire to enter upon such a pursuit.” 

Here Copley diligently practiced his art. 
Colonial dignitaries of church and State, graceful 
women and lovely children climbed the steep 
hill to his home that he might put on canvas 
their various forms and features. Excepting 
a visit to New York, in 1771, for the purpose of 
painting Colonel Washington, — as he was then 
known, — and some other persons of distinction, 
there were few events in his career. 

But now the time arrived when Copley could 
no longer resist the desire to visit Europe and 
drink in the inspiration that must come from 
viewing there the works of the great masters. 
Leaving his little group of loved ones he em¬ 
barked for England not, as has been said by 
some, because of his royalist tendencies, but 
with the very simple and clear-cut object of 
gaining, now that he had earned it, the develop¬ 
ment that every artist seeks when he goes abroad 
for travel and observation. Copley’s sympa¬ 
thies and judgment were enlisted always on the 
side of liberty and independence; he had never 
been in political accord with his father-in-law, 
whom we know as one of the consignees of the 
hated tea. Still, the actual troubles of Boston 


198 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

had not broken out when he sailed for England 
in June, 1774; as soon, indeed, as the news¬ 
papers acquainted him with them, he began to 
upbraid himself bitterly for having left his wife 
unprotected behind him. 

Yet, at first, there is only exultation in his 
letters. For had he not reached, at last, a land 
where there were pictures to be seen? “I have 
just returned from Mr. West’s house,” he writes 
on July 21, 1774, “ where I took tea. He accom¬ 
panied me to the queen’s palace where I beheld 
the finest collection of paintings I have seen, 
and, I believe, the finest in England. ... I 
also went to the Park, which has all the beauty 
the most lively imagination can conceive of; 
the ladies made such a show that it was almost 
enough to warm a statue and to endue it with 
life. I have also been to Vauxhall and seen the 
ladies assembled though not in such numbers as 
later in the season. I went on board the queen’s 
yacht, and here such a profusion of rich orna¬ 
ment presented itself as cannot be described. 
This is the ship that brought the queen, wife 
of George III, from Mecklenburg to England; 
the cabin is lined with crimson damask, bed 
the same. I have had a visit from Sir Joshua 
Reynolds and Mr. Strange, the celebrated 
engraver. . . . Next week I shall be introduced 
to Lord Dartmouth by Governor Hutchinson.” 

For Hutchinson, now in high favor at court, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 199 

was, naturally, a person of whose good offices 
a painter would gladly avail himself. At small 
and intimate affairs where George III and 
Queen Charlotte made it a point to meet and 
greet each guest, he was always welcome, and 
once the queen made him very proud by com¬ 
plimenting him on the appearance of his daugh¬ 
ter, Margaret, to whom he was devotedly at¬ 
tached. 

Through Hutchinson, indeed, Copley got 
the great chance of this, his first visit to London. 
For the king and queen themselves consented 
to sit to him! The pictures which resulted 
were for Governor John Wentworth of New 
Hampshire. 

Italy, however, was the Mecca of Copley’s 
hopes, and to that country he soon pushed 
happily on, sending his wife from Genoa, on 
October 8, 1774, the following exquisite love 
letter: “ Could I address you by any name 
more dear than that of wife I should delight 
in using it when I write; but how tender soever 
the name may be, it is insufficient to convey the 
attachment I have for you. Although the con¬ 
nection of man and wife as man and wife may 
have an end, yet that of love, which is pure and 
heavenly, may be perfected, — not that my love 
is not as perfect as it can be in the present 
state, but we may be capable of loving more 
by being more conformed to the infinite Source 


200 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


of love. I am very anxious lest you should suffer 
by my absence, but I shall make the disagreeable 
separation as short as possible for my own sake, 
for, till we are together, I have as little happiness 
as yourself.” 

Very likely he was particularly glad, in the 
midst of his anxieties about his family, of the 
opportunity which came to him in Rome to 
paint Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Izard of South Caro¬ 
lina. The resulting picture is now in the Boston 
Museum of Fine Arts, and is full of the atmos¬ 
phere of the Eternal City. Mrs. Izard is sup¬ 
posed to have sketched in crayon the group of 
statuary in the background. The artist catches 
her pose just as she is handing the sketch to her 
husband for criticism. Mr. Izard seems to be 
searching for the proper word with which to 
characterize his wife’s work; certainly he is 
not looking at the drawing in his hand. 

“ As soon as possible you shall know what my 
prospects are in England,” writes Copley to 
his wife about this time, “ and then you will be 
able to determine whether it is best for you to 
go there or for me to return to America. It is 
unpleasant to leave our dear connections; but 
if, in three or four years, I can make as much 
as will render the rest of our life easy and leave 
something to our family, if I should be called 
away, I believe that you would think it best 
to spend that time there; should this be done, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 201 

be assured I am ready to promise you that 1 
will go back and enjoy that domestic happiness 
which our little ‘ farm ’ is so capable of affording. 
I am sure you would like England very much; 
it is a very paradise; but so, I think, is Boston 
Common, if the town is what it once was.” 

But the town was no longer “ what it once 
was!” The encroachments of the British sol¬ 
diers and the turbulent spirit of the patriots 
combined to make it anything but a comfortable 
place of residence for a quiet lady whose only 
desire was to bring up her little brood in peace 
and comfort. 

“ I am sorry Boston has become so disagree¬ 
able,” wrote Copley to his wife in October. 
“ I think this will determine me to stay in Eng¬ 
land, where I have no doubt I shall meet with 
as much to do as in Boston and on better terms. 
I might have begun many pictures in London, 
if I had pleased, and several persons are await¬ 
ing my return to employ me. Mr. Wentworth 
will keep his commission for the portraits of 
their majesties for me. But to give you the 
trouble of crossing the sea with the children 
makes me very anxious. As for my property 
in Boston, I cannot count it anything now. I 
believe I shall sink it all; it is very hard but it 
must be submitted to. ... I fear my estate 
will be greatly injured by the soldiers having the 
hill. I wish I had sold my whole place; I 


202 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

should then have been worth something; I do 
not know now that I have a shilling in the 
world.” 

“ My anxiety is greater than I can express for 
you, our dear children and friends,” he wrote 
from Rome in December. “ When I reflect on 
the condition Boston may be in I tremble for 
you all; in a state of bloodshed and confusion 
no one is safe and I greatly fear the dispute 
will end in the most fatal and dreadful conse¬ 
quences. We have the English papers every 
post; they come twice a week in the summer, 
in winter not so regularly; so I know tolerably 
well what goes on of a public nature, and sin¬ 
cerely wish you were away from the town till 
it is in a different state. . . . The trouble you 
must be in will quicken my return to England, 
for I feel for you more than I can express. I 
pray to God to keep you from every evil and, if 
general confusion is inevitable, I hope it will 
not take place till you are in England. It is 
suggested that Lord Chatham is coming into 
the administration; if so, the dispute will end 
speedily in favor of the Americans. But I 
suspect this will not be the case; it does not 
look likely that the measure carried on with so 
much vigilance and seemingly with so deter¬ 
mined a resolution to humble the provinces 
will be relinquished. When I reflect what a 
happy people the Americans were, and how un- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 203 

happy they are at this time, I am much grieved; 
but I have dwelt longer on the subject than I 
intended, and shall leave it, for I avoid engaging 
in politics, as I wish to preserve an undisturbed 
mind and a tranquillity inconsistent with polit¬ 
ical disputes. . . . Should I now return to 
America I should have nothing to do and cannot 
think of going back to starve with my family.” 

When the news reached him that war had 
actually broken out he was terribly disturbed. 
“ The country which was once the happiest 
on the globe will be deluged with blood for many 
years to come,” he wrote. “ It seems as if no 
plan of reconciliation could now be formed; 
as the sword is drawn, all must finally be settled 
by the sword. I cannot think that the power of 
great Britain will subdue the country, if the 
people are united as they appear to be at present. 
I know it may seem strange to some men of great 
understanding that I should hold such an 
opinion, but it is very evident to me that America 
will have the power of resistance until strong 
to conquer, and that victory and independence 
will go hand in hand.” A little later he wrote: 
“ Whoever thinks the Americans can be easily 
subdued is greatly mistaken; they will keep 
their enthusiasm alive until they are victorious. 
You know, years ago, I was right in my opinion 
that this would be the result of the attempt to 
tax the colony; it is now my settled conviction 


204 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

that all the power of Great Britain will not 
reduce them to obedience.” 

Mrs. Copley had already arrived in England, 
when he got back there, having sensibly taken 
passage for the old country as soon as Boston 
became the seat of war. While journeying with 
all speed to join her there, her artist-husband 
fell in with Brook Watson as travelling com¬ 
panion, a man who, though in the prime of life, 
had for many years worn a wooden leg in place 
of one which, when a boy, he had sacrificed to 
the rapacious appetite of a shark. From the 
chance encounter with Watson sprang Copley’s 
first historical picture, — “A Youth Rescued 
from a Shark.” On one occasion, Professor 
Agassiz adduced in proof of his contention 
that sharks would attack the living this picture, 
of which he remembered to have seen an en¬ 
graving somewhere. 

Portraits, however, continued to be the work 
in which Copley was most successful, and of 
these perhaps the best is the so-called family 
picture in which are represented the artist, his 
wife, his father-in-law, Richard Clarke, and 
his four young children, three of whom survived 
him to a very advanced age. Against a back¬ 
ground which is undoubtedly a faithful tran¬ 
script of the family sitting-room is shown Mrs. 
Copley, seated on a crimson couch and caressing 
her only son, the future Lord Lyndhurst, while 



JOHK SINGLETON" COPLEY. 
From the portrait by the artist 
Page 198 














JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. ABIGAIL BROMFIELD 

Page 206 Page 205 











OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 205 

on the other side, his sister, scarce two years 
younger, is endeavoring to attract her share 
of the mother’s attention. Mr. Clarke, seated 
near a window opening on a landscape scene, 
holds on his knee the baby of the family. In 
the foreground stands the eldest child in the 
quaint attire of the last century, while the artist 
himself, with palette in hand, contemplates the 
sweet domestic scene with a look of satisfaction. 
The details of the picture are done with wonder¬ 
ful care and accuracy, the stiff doll, the plump 
baby, the hats and plumes, the silk stockings, 
buckles and high-heeled shoes being marvels 
in their way. This picture, devised and exe¬ 
cuted just at the time when Copley collected 
his family about him in his pleasant English 
home, possesses, of course, decided autobio¬ 
graphical interest as well. 

Among the first pictures of American women 
painted after the artist had settled down in 
England is that usually known as Abigail Brom- 
field and herewith reproduced. It is remarkable 
for the effect of a windy day given by the ar¬ 
rangement of the lady’s draperies. Miss Brom- 
field was the first wife of Daniel Denison Rogers 
of Boston. 

Both the Adams presidents were painted by 
Copley, John Adams in the well-known full- 
length picture with a map of Europe in his hand 
and a globe at his side now in the possession 


206 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

of Harvard College, and John Quincy Adams 
in the exquisite portrait owned by the Adams 
family, and now in the Boston Museum of Fine 
Arts. The Copleys had a good deal to do with 
John Adams and his wife during our first min¬ 
ister’s diplomatic service in London on behalf 
of the infant colony; for while her husband strove 
at court to maintain the dignity of America, 
Mrs. Adams would stitch his shirts in Mrs. 
Copley’s sitting-room and pour into the sym¬ 
pathetic ears of the artist’s wife her tale of scant 
courtesy from the court, and the difficulty of 
maintaining appearances on the niggardly salary 
her husband drew. 

The manner in which Copley did his work is 
of distinct interest to us. He sadly tried the 
patience of his sitters by his minute care and 
thorough fidelity in the execution of a picture. 
So thoroughly absorbed was he in the canvas 
before him that he required that a friend always 
accompany the sitter to keep up the flow of 
conversation and produce the animation which 
it was his task to bring out in line and color. 
No persuasions, no complaints of fatigue, could 
induce him to slight the most unimportant de¬ 
tail. And after hours of patient attention, the 
unfortunate sitter would often return to find 
every trace of the preceding day’s work ob¬ 
literated and the faithful artist alertly ready 
to begin his task all over again. To this care 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 207 

and fidelity we owe much of the value of Cop¬ 
ley’s portraits. 

Perhaps the most successful “ fancy picture ” 
of a woman which Copley ever produced [see 
frontispiece] is that of the first Mrs. Richard 
Derby of Boston, — well remembered for her 
extreme beauty and charming manners, — whom 
he painted under the guise of St. Cecilia. Mrs. 
Derby was the daughter of Dr. Nathaniel 
Coffin of Portland, Maine, and of his wife 
Eleanor Foster of Charlestown, Massachusetts. 
She married Richard Crowninshield Derby and 
they lived in a house which stood on Chestnut 
Street almost on the site now occupied by the 
Theological School of Boston University. 

One of the Americans whom Copley painted 
about this time was Elkanah Watson. Mr. 
Watson had the good fortune to be present 
when George III declared the United States to 
be free and independent and to dine afterwards 
with Copley. He has left us in his “ Men and 
Times of the Revolution,” a vivid account of 
the scene, both in Parliament and at the paint¬ 
er’s home. The date was December 5, 1782, 
and “ in conformity with previous arrange¬ 
ments,” he writes, “ I was conducted by the 
Earl of Ferrers to the very entrance of the House 
of Lords. At the door he whispered: ‘ Get as 
near the throne as you can; fear nothing.’ I 
did so and found myself exactly in front of it, 


208 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


elbow to elbow with the celebrated Admiral 
Lord Howe. The Lords were promiscuously 
standing as I entered. 

“ It was a dark and foggy day, and the win¬ 
dows being elevated and constructed in the an¬ 
tiquated style, with leaden bars to contain the 
diamond cut panes of glass, increased the gloom. 
The walls were hung with dark tapestry repre¬ 
senting the defeat of the Spanish Armada. 
I had the pleasure of recognizing in the crowd 
of spectators Copley and West the painter with 
some American ladies. I saw also some de¬ 
jected American royalists in the group. 

“ After waiting nearly two hours the approach 
of the King was announced by a tremendous 
roar of artillery. He entered by a small door 
on the left of the throne, and immediately seated 
himself upon the Chair of State in a graceful 
attitude, with his right foot resting upon a 
stool. He was clothed in royal robes. Appar¬ 
ently agitated he drew from his pocket the 
scroll containing his speech. The Commons 
were summond; and after the bustle of their 
entrance had subsided, he proceeded to read 
his speech. I was near the King and watched, 
with intense interest, every tone of his voice 
and expression of his countenance. It was to 
me a moment of thrilling and dignified exalta¬ 
tion. ... It is remarked that George III is 
celebrated for reading his speeches in a dis- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 209 

tinct free and impressive manner. On this 
occasion he was evidently embarrassed. He 
hesitated, choked and executed the painful 
duties of the occasion with an ill grace that does 
not belong to him. ,, 

“ The painting of me had already been finished 
in most exquisite style,” continues Watson, 
“ in every part except the background, in which 
Copley and I designed to represent a ship, 
bearing to America the acknowledgement of 
our independence. The sun was just rising 
from the stripes of the Union streaming from 
her gaff. All was complete save the flag which 
Copley had not deemed proper to hoist, as his 
gallery was the constant resort of the royal 
family and of the nobility. I dined with the 
artist on the glorious fifth of December 1782, 
after listening with him to the speech of the king, 
formally recognizing the United States of America 
in the rank of nations. Previous to the dinner, 
and immediately after our return from the 
House of Lords Copley invited me into his studio; 
and then, with a bold hand, a master’s touch, 
and I believe, an American heart, he attached 
to the ship the Stars and Stripes. This was, I 
imagine, the first American flag hoisted in Old 
England.” 

Copley’s son, Lord Lyndhurst, had an Ameri¬ 
can heart, too, even after he had become lord 
chancellor of England. A Boston-born boy, 


210 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


he never lost his feeling of kinship for the place. 
There is a story that, on one occasion, having 
expressed some opinion not quite palatable 
to William IV that monarch said to him cut¬ 
tingly: “Pray, my Lord, when did you leave 
America ? ” “ Please your Majesty,” was the 

response in slow and measured tones, “ I crossed 
the Atlantic in the last ship that sailed from 
Boston under the British flag before the Decla¬ 
ration of Independence.” 

Lyndhurst’s sister was Mrs. Gardiner Greene 
of Boston, and to the generosity of her husband 
he owed his chance when a youth to make the 
splendid place he ultimately did make for himself 
in England. For Copley’s fortunes began to 
decline about the time his son was ready to 
practise law, and he was obliged to ask Mr. 
Greene to help the young man out. This was 
about 1804, and after the “ farm,” to which 
Copley had always hoped some day to return, 
had slipped irretrievably from his grasp. Cop¬ 
ley’s step-brother, Henry Pelham, had looked 
after the property for him during the occupation 
of Boston by the British and, after the close of 
the war and the restoration of peace, the big 
estate at the head of the Common began to 
be really valuable. Especially did the waste 
land of the western slope of Beacon Hill become 
an object of much interest to the speculators 
of that day when it was whispered about that 



ELKANAH WATSON. 

From a painting done in England by Copley. The stars and stripes on 
the flag in the background were painted in immediately after George III 
had declared the American colonies “ free and independent states.” 

Page 209 










norman’s map of boston in 1806 
Page 214 































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 211 

the new state house would be located on the 
summit of the hill, and near the Beacon monu¬ 
ment. 

At the eastern corner of Beacon and Walnut 
Streets lived Dr. Benjamin Joy, an old Boston 
practitioner and shrewd man of affairs, who 
naturally enough heard of the state house project 
in advance of most people. Dr. Joy at once saw 
the value of the Copley tract. 

For obvious reasons he did not wish to appear 
as a would-be purchaser of the Copley acres 
which adjoined his own property. He therefore 
enlisted the services of Harrison Gray Otis, a 
local lawyer, then of much repute, and Jonathan 
Mason, Jr., to secure the Copley estate, and 
whatever additional acreage in the vicinity 
could be obtained in their own names, as the 
Mount Yernon proprietors. Dr. Joy, after the 
land had been bought, would take his share. 

In some way General William Hull, then a 
successful lawyer, was brought into the scheme, 
as was also, as an investor, James Swan, a 
Boston merchant, who resided abroad. It was 
through the instrumentality of General Hull 
that Copley gave a bond for the deed and re¬ 
ceived as part compensation for his property 
the sum of one thousand pounds. 

Later on, when the deed reached London, 
Copley had heard, however, of the projected 
new state house and he refused to sign the deed, 


212 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

The former Boston artist claimed that neither 
he nor his agent, who at that time was Samuel 
Cabot, one of the few residents of upper Beacon 
Street, knew of the contemplated new state 
house when the bond was executed, otherwise 
he would not have parted with his cherished 
Boston farm so readily. Legal complications 
followed, and Copley was forced to comply with 
the provisions of the original contract and sign 
away forever all ownership in the property upon 
whose future he had built so much. He sent 
his son, John Singleton Copley, then a young 
man who had just taken his university degrees, 
to Boston with full power to act in all matters 
that pertained to the affair in hand. On reach¬ 
ing Boston the son wrote the following letter to 
his father: 


“Boston, Jan. 2, 1796, 

“ I have an opportunity of writing only one- 
half line by a vessel which sails almost imme¬ 
diately, to inform you of my safe arrival in 
Boston at 4 o’clock this morning, after a tem¬ 
pestuous passage of more than eight weeks. 
I am this instant going to Gen. Hull, whom I 
saw this morning. He has written to you upon 
your affairs at length. Scott has . made affi¬ 
davit that no such verbal transaction as you 
mentioned ever took place. 

“ The business cannot come on till May. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 213 

If you can make yourself a subject of the United 
States you are clear. If otherwise, I am not 
yet sufficiently informed to say what may be the 
result if you are decreed an alien; but take cour¬ 
age. I cannot say more than wish my most 
affectionate regards to my dear mother and my 
two amiable sisters, and add that they would be 
agreeably disappointed at a view of Boston. 
Your Dutiful Son.” 

The young attorney, afterward famed in 
England as Baron Lyndhurst, lord high chan¬ 
cellor, found it no easy task to straighten out 
the tangle into which the affairs of the Copley 
land investments had fallen, and to show the 
measure of success he reached in the adjust¬ 
ment of all differences, extracts from his own 
account should be quoted: 

“ I have, my dear sir,” he writes to his father 
under date of February 27, 1796, 44 concluded 
my negotiations with Messrs. Mason, Otis, etc, 
etc: how you will be affected by the result, 
whether it will give you dissatisfaction or pleas¬ 
ure, I cannot determine. 

44 But had your ground been firmer still 
there was no hope that the business would be 
settled within the space of two years and a half. 
After much negotiation, and after various con¬ 
sultations with your counsel and with Mr. 
Rogers, I acceded, in pursuance to their advice, 


214 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

to the following terms: That you should retain 
the £1000 received from Hull and that I should 
receive on your account an addition of 3000 
guineas, deducting the amount of Phillips’ 
mortgage. 

“ They also indemnify you against Hull, 
which will cost them, I understand, or rather 
I know, £2200 more. I do not believe that any 
person could have obtained from them one 
shilling more.” 1 

Thus the dream of Copley’s life after he left 
America vanished. The “ farm ” on Boston 
Common, to which he was so warmly attached, 
had slipped from his grasp, and his last as¬ 
piration of returning to end his life in his 
native land, among congenial scenes, of course 
melted away with it. He died in London, 
September 9, 1815, and was buried in the parish 
church of Croydon. In a niche of the wall 
above the tomb where he rests is a bust taken 
from the portrait which Gilbert Stuart painted 
of him and which, according to the testimony 
of Lord Lyndhurst, was the best likeness ever 
made of his father. 

But the real memorial to Copley is to be found 
in his work, particularly in those exquisite 
portraits of fair New England women which, 
to this day, adorn the drawing-room walls of 
many a stately American mansion. 

*[ Letters quoted from Mrs. Amory's book.] 


CHAPTER IX 


JOHN HANCOCK AND HIS DOROTHV 

M RS. MERCY WARREN, the favorite 
sister of James Otis, and a woman of 
keen observation wrote, towards the 
end of her life a “ History of the Revolution ” 
which, if it failed to do full justice to John 
Adams and one or two others, certainly set 
down with very nice discernment the political 
character of John Hancock!, Hancock had long 
been a popular idol, and this cool analysis of 
him served, very likely, to correct a too-biased 
impression: 

“ Mr. Hancock was a young gentleman of 
fortune, of more external accomplishments than 
real abilities. He was polite in manners, easy 
in address, affable, civil and liberal. With these 
accomplishments he was capricious, sanguine 
and implacable: naturally generous, he was 
profuse in expense; he scattered largesses with¬ 
out discretion, and purchased favors by the 
waste of wealth, until he reached the ultimatum 
of his wishes, which centred in the focus of 


216 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

popular applause. He enlisted early in the 
cause of his country, at the instigation of some 
gentlemen of penetration, who thought his ample 
fortune might give consideration while his fickle¬ 
ness could not injure, so long as he was under 
the influence of men of superior judgment. 
They complimented him by nominations to 
committees of importance, till he plunged too 
far to recede; and flattered by ideas of his own 
consequence, he had taken a decided part 
before the battle of Lexington, and was presi¬ 
dent of the provincial congress, when that 
event took place.” 

Now while this is probably as judicial a pro¬ 
nouncement upon John Hancock the politi¬ 
cian as could well be put into such brief space, 
there is a sweet and generous side to Hancock, 
the man at which Mrs. Warren does not even 
hint. It is that which I hope to bring out. For, 
after all, life is more than politics. And Han¬ 
cock’s real mettle was pretty severely tested, 
as it seems to me, when, on the eve of being 
wedded to the girl he loved, he was warned to 
flee for his life from a proscription which logic¬ 
ally would have disposed of him at the end of a 
rope in England. 

Five days after the flight from Lexington, 
Hancock sent to the Massachusetts Committee 
of Safety the following letter, which I reproduce 
by the kindness of the New England Magazine. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 217 

“ Worcester, April 24, 1775 
Monday evening 

“ Gentlemen: 

“ Mr. S. Adams and myself, just arrived here, 
find no intelligence from you and no guard. 
We just hear an express has passed through this 
place to you from New York, informing that 
administration is bent upon pushing matters; 
and that four regiments are expected there. 
How are we to proceed ? Where are our breth¬ 
ren ? Surely, we ought to be supported. I had 
rather be with you; and, at present, am fully 
determined to be with you before I proceed. I 
beg, by the return of this express to hear from 
you, and pray, furnish us with depositions of 
the conduct of the troops, the certainty of their 
firing first, and every circumstance relative 
to the conduct of the troops from the 19th instant, 
to this time, that we may be able to give some 
account of matters as we proceed, especially 
at Philadelphia, also I beg you would order 
your secretary to make out an account of your 
proceedings since, what has taken place; what 
your plan is; what prisoners we have, and what 
they have of ours; who of note was killed, on 
both side; who commands our forces, &c. 

“ Are our men in good spirits ? For God’s 
sake do not suffer the spirit to subside, until 
they have perfected the reduction of our ene¬ 
mies. Boston must be entered; the troops must 


218 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

be sent away. . . . Our friends are valuable, but 
our country must be saved. I have an interest 
in that town. What can be the enjoyment of 
that town if I am obliged to hold it at the will of 
Gen. Gage or any one else ? I doubt not your 
vigilance, your fortitude and resolution. Do 
let us know how you proceed. We must have the 
Castle. . . . Stop up the harbor against large 
vessels coming. You know better what to do 
than I can point out. Where is Mr. Cushing? 
Are Mr. Paine and Mr. John Adams to be with 
us ? What are we to depend upon ? We travel 
rather as deserters, which I will not submit to. 
. . . Pray remember Mr. S. Adams and myself 
to all friends. God be with you. I am gentle¬ 
men, your faithful and hearty countryman 
“ John Hancock.” 

In addition to the many political anxieties 
reflected in this letter John Hancock had a lover’s 
fears for the safety of his fiancee, Dorothy 
Quincy, whom we last saw threatening, in a fit 
of feminine perversity, that she would go back 
into Boston, on the morrow, and join her father 
who was shut up there. This father, Edmund 
Quincy, is so interesting a person that we owe 
it to ourselves to digress for a bit in order to 
give him and his family due consideration. 

His ancestral home was in the town which 
now bears his name, — but which was then 



DOROTHY QUINCY HANCOCK. 
From the painting by Copley 
Page 219 





PARLOR OF DOROTHY Q. HOUSE, QUINCY. 

Showing wall paper hung for John Hancock’s wedding 

Page 222 


















OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 219 

called Braintree, — and his grandfather was 
the first Quincy to own the fine old roof-tree 
which we now know as the Dorothy Q. house. 
To attend the funeral of Colonel Quincy, as 
the first Edmund was always called. Judge 
Sewall drove out from Boston in 1697-1G98, 
picking up Madame Dudley on the way, who 
“ seem’d to be glad of the Invitation and were 
mutually refreshed by.our Company.” Scarcely 
two years later Judge Sewall was obliged to go 
to Braintree for another funeral, this time that 
of the widow. He notes in his diary: “ Cousin 
Edmund Quinsey invited us; for I lodged there 
all night.” This “ cousin ” Edmund it was who, 
by marriage with the lovely Dorothy Flynt, soon 
brought into the annals of Braintree the first 
“ Dorothy Q.” 

When this maiden went out from her home 
at Dorchester — she was the daughter of Rev. 
Josiah Flynt of that place — to assume the care 
of a household, she was a girl of only seventeen, 
while her husband was scarcely three years 
older. But the young man showed himself very 
properly a Quincy, for early and rapidly he 
distinguished himself in public affairs. As the 
Rev. John Hancock, his pastor, later said of 
him: “ This great man was of a manly Stature 
and Aspect, of a Strong Constitution, and of 
good Courage, fitted for any Business of Life, to 
serve God, his King, and Country.” 


220 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

This second Edmund Quincy it was who 
fashioned the old roof-tree into the house nearly 
as it stands to-day. The original building in 
all its lines is still to be discerned almost as 
plainly as if the newer edifice to which it is 
joined were transparent, for the old roof with its 
shingles is half a story beneath the later one, 
and the old windows and clapboards are clearly 
distinguishable from those of the more recent 
extension. The union of the new building with 
the old was done without any attempt to achieve 
a result architecturally imposing, and thus it 
comes about that the house has a full complement 
of haunted chambers, secret passages, and 
closets. 

Into this pleasant home the Dorothy Q. of 
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poem was born 
January 4, 1709. She was the fourth child 
of Edmund and Dorothy Flynt Quincy, and 
considerably younger than the others. She 
did not marry until the very late age, for a girl 
of that time, of twenty-nine. Meanwhile, the 
old house had become the property of her brother, 
Edmund, the father of Hancock’s Dorothy. 

This Edmund Quincy was graduated at 
Harvard in 1722, practised law and became 
Judge of Common Pleas. After his marriage 
to Elizabeth Wendell (April 15, 1725) they 
went to live in Boston, and it was in their home 
on the south side of Summer Street that Han- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 221 

cock’s Dorothy was born, May 10, 1747. Yet 
when she was five years old she went back to 
live in the old homestead at Quincy a part of 
every year, and here it was that John Hancock 
first came to know her well. Tradition even 
says that it was in honor of Dorothy’s marriage 
to “ King ” Hancock that the large north parlor 
of the house was hung with the wall-paper 
which still adorns it, — a Paris design showing 
Venus and Cupid in blue with pendent wreaths 
of red flowers. In one panel Cupid appears to 
be wooing the shy Venus; in the other she has 
dispatched him with an affirmative answer 
and he is speeding happily away amid very 
natural-looking birds of paradise, disporting 
themselves on the floral background. It seems 
a pity that paper so eminently fitted to nuptial 
rites should not have graced the Hancock wed¬ 
ding after all. 

But for watchful Aunt Lydia Hancock, the 
patriot John would, very likely, never have 
enjoyed his bride, indeed. This lady was the 
widow of the rich merchant, Thomas Hancock, 
who, dying in Boston, had left the greater part 
of his wealth to his nephew and adopted son, 
John Hancock, whom he had adopted in 1744, 
when the boy’s father, Rev. John Hancock of 
Quincy, died. Young Hancock was very fond 
of his Aunt Lydia, and she was bent upon giving 
nim the sweetheart of his choice. To this end 


222 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

she often had Dorothy Quincy, whose mother 
was dead, to stay with her at her splendid 
mansion opposite the Common. Thus it was 
that Dorothy, whose own home as has been said 
was on Summer Street, happened to be near 
enough Earl Percy’s soldiers to be annoyed by 
their morning drill. 

The first public office which I find record of 
having been held by John Hancock was that 
of selectman. He was chosen on that board 
at the town meeting of March, 1765, very likely 
because his late uncle had for many years oc¬ 
cupied the position. But that he was fast 
developing patriotic feeling on his own account 
is shown by a letter sent to one of his London 
correspondents the following November, in 
which he says: “ I am invariably determined 
not to carry on business under a stamp, nor 
ever subject myself to be a slave without my 
own Consent.” When the Stamp Act was re¬ 
pealed, the news was brought to Boston by 
John Hancock’s vessel, and during the subse¬ 
quent celebration “ John Hancock Esq. gave 
a grand and elegant entertainment to the genteel 
part of the town and treated the populace with 
a pipe of Madeira wine. Erected at the front 
of his house, which was magnificently illumi¬ 
nated, was a stage for the exhibition of fire¬ 
works, which was to answer those of the sons 
of liberty! . . . Mr. Otis and some other gentle- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 223 

men who lived near the Common kept open house 
the whole evening, which was very pleasant; 
the multitude of gentlemen and ladies who were 
continually passing from one place to another 
added much to the brilliancy of the night,” 
records a newspaper of the period. 

At the following election, Hancock was chosen 
one of four representatives to the General 
Court, the other three from Boston being James 
Otis, Thomas Cushing and Samuel Adams. 
Circumstances which, I doubt not “ the master 
of the puppets ” had his share in arranging, 
had thrown Hancock and Adams much to¬ 
gether of late. Adams had great skill in bring¬ 
ing to the front young men likely, for any reason, 
to be helpful to the Cause and Hancock, with his 
wealth and popularity, promised exceedingly well 
in that way. So they served together on various 
committees chosen to prepare letters and reso¬ 
lutions of importance. “ If Adams wrote the 
letters, Hancock furnished the quills,” says 
A. E. Brown, who has written an excellent Life 
of the younger man. This epigram besides 
being very striking is almost literally true. For 
what one man lacked the other supplied, the 
combination being sufficiently effective to induce 
the American Revolution and give George III 
many a bad quarter-hour. 

From one point of view Hancock is more 
deserving of praise than any other Bostonian 


224 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

who ranged himself on the side of the people 
as against the king. He was very rich, and since 
war presented to him the possibility of being 
stripped utterly of his possessions, he had every¬ 
thing to lose and nothing to gain by it. But he 
elected to work with the defenders of liberty 
and, when his commission as Colonel of the 
Cadets was revoked by Gage soon after that 
personage had landed in Boston, he merely 
said: “ I shall always prefer retirement in a 
private station to being a tool in the hand of 
power to impress my country men .’ 9 He con¬ 
tinued his service in the General Court even 
after that body had been dissolved by Gage, 
and when he was appointed one of the delegates 
to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia 
he hesitated not a moment to accept the trust, 
though he quite understood that his goods as 
well as his life would be endangered thereby. 

Of the Provincial Congress which met in 
October (1774) at Concord and then later at 
Cambridge, Hancock was president, and in that 
capacity became particularly responsible for 
the first Thanksgiving proclamation in which 
the “ king ” was not recognized. 

When the second Provincial Congress opened 
at Cambridge, on February 1 , 1775, John Han¬ 
cock, representing Boston, was again unanimously 
elected president. He was further made one of 
a committee to consider and report “ the state 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 225 

and circumstances of the Province;” on the 
fourth day of the session he put a motion “ that 
the secretary be directed to write Colonel Rober¬ 
son, desiring him to deliver the four brass field 
pieces, and the two brass mortars now in his 
hands, the property of the Province, to the 
order of the Committee of Safety.” It is not 
hard to see what thoughts were finding lodg¬ 
ment in his brain! During this session of the 
Provincial Congress it was, too, that John 
Hancock and his associates, chosen by the 
former Congress as delegates to the Conti¬ 
nental Congress “ were authorized and em¬ 
powered, with the delegates from the other 
American Colonies, to adjourn from time to 
time and place to place, as they shall judge 
necessary, and to continue as delegates until 
the end of the year.” 

For its second session of 1775 the Provincial 
Congress was back at Concord, assembling 
in the old Parish Meeting-House which still 
stands, and to-day looks very much outwardly as 
it did then. Knowing the condition of affairs 
in Boston, Hancock did not return to his home 
during the intermissions of the session, finding 
it more convenient to stay in Concord and go 
down for Sundays and week-ends to the Lex¬ 
ington parsonage where he and his associate 
Adams were made very welcome by his cousins, 
Rev. and Mrs. Jonas Clark. Here, quite natu- 


226 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


rally, towards the middle of April Mrs. Lydia 
Hancock and her young friend, Miss Quincy, 
came for a visit. And thus it was that Paul 
Revere broke up a very happy family circle 
when he rode out from Boston, on the eve of 
the skirmish at Lexington, with his alarming 
message. 

How Hancock and his companion escaped we 
have already seen. As for his fiancee and his 
aunt, the course of their retreat, after leaving 
Woburn — whither it will be remembered they 
bore a fine salmon for a bountiful dinner that 
was never eaten — may be gathered from a 
letter written at Lancaster, May 11, 1775, by 
Edmund Quincy, the father of the vivacious 
Dolly, to his son, the girl’s brother: “ I was from 
noon Sat’y till Friday eve’g getting up hither 
with much difficulty by reason of scarcity of 
carriages. Cost me near £20, besides quarter¬ 
ing on some of my good friends who were very 
kind and generous. Y’r sister Dolly with Mrs. 
Hancock came from Shirley to y’r Bro. Gren- 
leef’s & dined & proceeded to Worcester, where 
Col H. & Mr. A were on their way. This Was 
10 days before I got hither, so that I missed 
seeing them. As I hear she proceeded with Mr. 
H. to Fayerfield I don’t expect to see her till 
peaceable times are restored.” 

The home in Fairfield, Connecticut, where 
the ladies now took up their abode, was that of 




THE WASHINGTON ELM, CAMBRIDGE. CONCORD CHURCH. 

Page 235 In which the Provincial Congress held its sessions. 

Page 225 




























































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 227 

Thaddeus Burr, and thither Hancock, who was 
pushing on towards Philadelphia, promptly 
sent this letter (quoted in Salisbury’s “ Family 
Memorials ”): 

“ New York, Sabbath Even g, May 7, 1775 

“My dear Dolly: — I Arriv’d well, tho’ 
Fatigued, at King’s Bridge at Fifty Minutes 
after Two o’clock yesterday, where I found 
the Delegates of Massachusetts and Connec’, 
with a Number of Gentlemen from New York, 
and a Guard of the Troop. I Din’d and then 
set out in Procession for New York, the Carriage 
of your humble servant of course being first 
in the Procession. When we Arriv’d within 
three miles of the City we were Met by the 
Grenadier Company and Regiment of the City 
Militia under Arms, Gentlemen in Carriages 
and on Horseback, and many Thousand of 
Persons on Foot, the Roads fill’d with people, 
and the Greatest Cloud of Dust I ever saw. 
In this Scituation we entered the City, and pass¬ 
ing thro’ the Principal Streets of New York 
amidst the Acclamations of Thousands were 
set Down at Mr. Francis’s. After Entering the 
House three Huzzas were Given, and the People 
by Degrees Dispers’d. 

“ When I got within a mile of the City my 
Carriage was stopt, and some Persons appearing 
with proper harnesses insisted upon Taking out 


228 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

my Hordes and Dragging me into and through 
the City, a Circumstance I would not have had 
Taken place upon any consideration, not being 
fond of such Parade. 

“ I Beg’d and Intreated that they would Sus¬ 
pend the Design, and ask’d it as a favour, and 
the Matter Subsided, but when I got to the 
Entrance of the City, and the Numbers of 
Spectators increas’d to perhaps Seven Thou¬ 
sand or more, they Declar’d they would have 
the Horses out and would Drag me themselves 
thro’ the City. I Repeated my Request, and 
I was oblig’d to apply to the Leading Gentle¬ 
men in the procession to intercede with them 
not to Carry their Designs into Execution; 
as it was very disagreeable to me. They were 
at last prevailed upon and I proceeded. I was 
much oblig’d to them for their good wishes and 
Opinion, in short no Person could possibly be 
more notic’d than myself. 

“ After having Rode so fast and so many 
Miles you may well think I was much Fatig’d, 
but no sooner had I got into the Room of the 
House we were Visited by a great number of 
Gentlemen of the first Character in the city, 
who Took up the Evening. 

“ About 10 o’clock I Sat down to Supper of 
Fried Oysters, &c at 11 o’clock went to Capt. 
Sears’s (the King Inn) and Lodg’d. Arose at 
5 o’clock, went to the House first mention’d, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 229 

Breakfasted, Dress’d and went to Meeting, 
where I heard a most excellent Sermon by Mr. 
Livingston. Return’d to the same House, a 
most Elegant Dinner provided. 

“ Went to Meeting, heard Dr. Rogers, a fine 
preacher. Tomorrow Morning propose to Cross 
the Ferry. We are to have a large Guard in 
several Boats and a Number of the City Gentle¬ 
men will attend us over. I can’t think they will 
Dare attack us. 

“ The Grenadier Company of the City is to 
Continue under Arms during our stay here, and 
we have a Guard of them Night and Day at 
our Doors. . . . This is a sad mortification 
for the Tories, things look well here. [The 
travelling company now consisted of Samuel 
Adams, John Adams, Thomas Cushing, Robert 
Treat Paine, Roger Sherman and Silas Deane, 
besides the writer of the letter.] 

“ I Beg you will write me; do acquaint me 
every Circumstance Relative to that Dear Aunt 
of Mine; write Lengthy and often. Mr. Nath. 
Barrett and Mr. Buck are here. People move 
slowly out, they tell me, from Boston. My best 
Respects to Mr. & Mrs. Burr. My poor Face 
and Eyes are in a most shocking scituation, 
burnt up and much swell’d and a little painfull. 
I don’t know how to manage with it. 

“ Is your Father out ? As soon as you know, 
do acquaint me, and send me the Letters, and 


230 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

I will write him. Pray let me hear from you by 
every Post. God Bless you my Dr Girl, and 
believe me most Sincerely 

“ Yours most Affectionately 

“ John Hancock. 

But Dolly did not write to John by every 
Post, for just then there came to Fairfield, to 
visit his aunt and uncle, Aaron Burr, a gallant 
and handsome young man of twenty-nine, 
having a way with him that no woman was ever 
able to resist. So fascinating, indeed, did he 
make himself to Dolly that, but for watchful 
Aunt Lydia, the cherished plans of the Hancock 
family would very likely have been brought to 
nought. That the absent lover keenly felt 
her failure to write “ lengthy and often ” and, 
amid the cares of state, found time to be a very 
normal man and to fret himself a good deal 
that his desire to hear from his sweetheart was 
not met we see from the following [from the 
New England Magazine]: 

“ Philad’a 10th June, 1775 

“My dr. Dolly: — I am almost prevail’d 
on to think that my letters to my Aunt & you 
are not read, for I cannot obtain a reply, I have 
ask’d million questions & not an answer to one, 
I beg’d you to let me know what things my 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 231 


Aunt wanted & you, and many other matters 
I wanted to know, but not one word in answer. 
I Really Take it extreme unkind, pray my Dr. 
use not so much Ceremony & Reservedness, 
why can’t you use freedom in writing, be not 
afraid of me, I want long Letters. I am glad 
the little things I sent you were agreeable. Why 
did you not write me of the top of the Umbrealla. 
I am so sorry it was spoiled, but I will send you 
another by my Express wch will go in a few 
days. How did my Aunt like her gown, & do 
let me know if the Stockings suited her; she had 
better send a pattern shoe and stocking, I war¬ 
rant I will suit her. The Inclosed letter for 
your Father you will read, & seal and forward 
him, you will observe I mention in it your 
writing your Sister Katy about a few necessaries 
for Katy Sewall, what you think Right let her 
have & Roy James, & this only between you 
and I; do write your Father I should be glad 
to hear from him, & I beg, my Dear Dolly, 
you will write me often & long Letters, I will 
forgive the past if you will mend in the future. 
Do ask my Aunt to make me up & send me a 
Watch String, & do you make me up another 
& send me, I wear them out fast. I want some 
little thing of your doing. 

“ Remember me to all Friends with you as 
if nam’d. I am call’d upon & must obey. 

“ I have sent you by Doer Church in a paper 


232 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Box Directed to you, the following things, for 
your acceptance & which I do insist you wear, 
if you do not, I shall think the Donor is the ob¬ 
jection: 

2 pair white silk 1 stockings which 
4 pair white thread j I think will fit you 
1 pr Black Satin 1 shoes, the other 
lpr Black Calem Co. ( Shall be sent when done 
1 very pretty light Hat 

1 neat Airy Summer Cloak (I ask Doer. Church) 

2 caps 
1 Fann 

“ I wish these may please you, I shall be 
gratified if they do, pray write me, I will attend 
to all your Commands. 

“ Adieu my Dr Girl, and believe me with 
great Esteem & Affection 

“ Yours without Reserve 

“ John Hancock. 

“ Remember me to Katy Brackett/’ 

Thanks to the chaperonage of Mrs. Hancock 
the wedding came duly off, in spite of Aaron 
Burr, not long after this. The date of the mar¬ 
riage was August 28, 1775, and the New York 
Gazette honored it with the following florid notice 
in its issue of September 4: “ This evening was 
married at the seat of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 233 

at Fairfield, Connecticut, by the Reverend Mr. 
Elliot the Hon. John Hancock Esq, President 
of the Continental Congress, to Miss Dorothy 
Quincy, daughter of Edmund Quincy Esq., of 
Boston. Florus informs us that 4 in the second 
Punic war, when Hannibal besieged Rome and 
was very near making himself master of it, 
a field upon which part of his army lay, was 
offered for sale, and was immediately purchased 
by a Roman, in a strong assurance that the 
Roman valor and courage would soon raise the 
siege.’ Equal to the conduct of that illustrious 
citizen was the marriage of the Honorable John 
Hancock Esq., who, with his amiable lady has 
paid as great a compliment to American valor, 
and discovered equal patriotism, by marrying 
now while all the colonies are as much convulsed 
as Rome when Hannibal was at her gates.” 

John Hancock very well knew, however, that 
he must marry his Dolly before she would be 
really his. Once married she settled down into 
a devoted wife. For a time she and her husband 
were at a boarding-house in Philadelphia with 
others from Massachusetts. John Adams, wri¬ 
ting November 4, 1775, to his own dear wife says: 
“Two pair of colors belonging to the Seventh 
Regiment, were brought here last night from 
Chambly, and hung up in Mrs. Hancock’s 
chamber with great splendor and elegance. 
That lady sends her compliments and good 


234 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

wishes. Among a hundred men, almost, at 
this house, she lives and behaves with modest 
decency, dignity and discretion, I assure you. 
Her behavior is easy and genteel. She avoids 
talking upon politics. In large and mixed 
companies she is totally silent, as a lady ought 
to be[!]. But whether her eyes are so penetra¬ 
ting, and her attention so quick to the words, 
looks gestures sentiments &c of the company as 
yours would be, saucy as you are in this way, I 
won’t say.” 

Soon, however, the Hancocks took a house 
and over it the young wife presided with great 
grace and charm. In a letter sent by Hancock 
to General Washington, early in May, 1776,— 
just after the Commander-in-Chief had been 
called to Philadelphia, by Congress, in order 
to advise that body concerning its future move¬ 
ments, — we catch a glimpse of this, their 
first home: 

“ I reside in an airy open part of the city, in 
Arch street and Fourth street. Your favor of 
the 20th inst. I received this morning and cannot 
help expressing the great pleasure it would afford 
Mrs. Hancock and myself to have the happiness 
of accommodating you during your stay in this 
city. As the house I live in is large and roomy, 
it will be entirely in Your power to live in that 
manner you should wish. Mrs. Washington 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 235 

will be as retired as she pleases, while under 
inoculation, and Mrs. Hancock will esteem it 
an honour to have Mrs. Washington inoculated 
in her house; and as I am informed Mr. Ran¬ 
dolph has not any lady about his house to take 
the necessary care of Mrs. Washington, I flatter 
myself she will be as well attended in my family. 

“ In short, sir, I must take the freedom to 
repeat my wish, that You will be pleased to con¬ 
descend to dwell under my roof. I assure you, 
sir, I will do all in my power to render your 
stay agreeable, and my house shall be entirely 
at your disposal. I must, however, submit 
this to your determination and only add that 
you will peculiarly gratify Mrs. H. and myself, 
in affording me an opportunity of convincing you 
of this truth, that I am, with every sentiment 
of regard for you, and your connections, and 
with much esteem, dear sir, 

“ Your faithful and most obedient humble 
servant. “ John Hancock/* 

Because of its admirable spirit of cordiality, 
as well as because it tells us what kind of 
house he lived in, we are glad of this letter, 
reproduced by A. E. Brown in “ John Han¬ 
cock, His Book.” For when John Adams, in 
June, 1775, nominated Washington to be com¬ 
mander-in-chief, “ mortification and resent¬ 
ment ” were to be observed on the face of Han- 


236 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

cock, if one can trust the reportorial powers of 
Adams. Yet if Hancock did, perchance, feel 
some degree of pique at not being himself 
slated for the first place in the army, he let no 
hint of this get into his correspondence; one 
might search long before finding a more ob¬ 
viously sincere sentence than this in a letter 
which he sent to Washington July 10, 1775: 
“ I must beg the favor that you will reserve some 
berth for me, in such department as you may 
judge most proper; for I am determined to act 
under you, if it be to take a firelock and join 
the ranks as volunteer! ” Hancock was slow 
to find out that he could serve the Cause more 
effectively in council than in camp. 

As the year drew to a close, it was necessary 
that the Continental Congress, for greater 
safety, change their place of meeting from 
Philadelphia to Baltimore. So the members 
gathered up their papers and their families and 
moved further south. Mrs. Hancock especially 
needed quiet, just then, for a little daughter, — 
named Lydia Henchman after the devoted aunt, 
— came about this time into the Hancock 
family. When Hancock returned to Phila¬ 
delphia with the Congress the mother and child 
were left behind at the home of Mr. Samuel 
Purviance in Baltimore. To this fact is due 
the following interesting letter long in the pos¬ 
session of the late Mrs. William Wales: 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 237 

“ Philadelphia 10th March 1777 

“ My dear dear Dolly: My Detention at 
the Ferry & and the badness of the Roads 
prevented my arriving here untill Friday Eve¬ 
ning. 

“ I put my things into Mr. Williams’ house, 
and went in pursuit of Lodgings. Neither Mrs. 
Yard nor Lucy could accommodate me. I then 
went to Smith’s and borrowed two Blankets & 
returned to my own house; soon after which 
Mrs. Smith sent me up a very handsome supper, 
with a Table cloth, Knives & forks, plates salt, 
a print of Butter, Tea double refined Sugar, 
a Bowl of Cream, a Loaf of Bread &c &c here 
I have remain’d and shall do so waiting your 
arrival. Indeed Mrs. Smith oblig’d me much. 
I however lead a doleful lonesome life. Tho on 
Saturday I dined at Dr. Shippins’. He desires 
his Regds. he is as lonesome as I. On Saturday 
I sat down to dinner at the little table with Folger 
on a piece of Roast Beef with Potatoes. We 
drank your health with all our Baltimore friends. 
Last night Miss Lucy came to see me, & this 
morning while I was at Breakfast on Tea with a 
pewter tea-spoon, Mrs. Hard came in. She 
could not stay to Breakfast with me. I spend 
my evenings at home, snuff my candles with a 
pair of scissors, which Lucy seeing, sent me 
a pair of snuffers, & dipping the gravy out of 
the Dish with my pewter tea spoon, she sent 


238 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

me a large silver spoon and two silver tea spoons 
— that I am now quite rich. 

“ I shall make out as well as I can, but I 
assure you, my Dear Soul I long to have you 
here & I know you will be as expeditious as 
you can. When I part from you again it must be 
a very extraordinary occasion. I have sent 
everywhere to get a gold or silver rattle for the 
child with a coral to send but cannot get one. 
I will have one if possible on yr coming. I have 
sent a sash for her & two little papers of pins for 
you. If you do not want them you can give them 
away. 

“ However unsettled things may be I could 
not help sending for you as I cannot live in this 
way. We have an abundance of lies. The cur¬ 
rent report is that General Howe is bent on 
coming here, another report is that the Mercht’s 
at New York are packing their goods & putting 
them on board ships & that the troops are going 
away, neither of which do I believe. We must, 
however, take our chances, this you may de¬ 
pend on, that you will be ever the object of my 
utmost care & attention. 

“ I have been exceedingly busy, since I have 
been here, tho’ have not yet made a Congress, 
are waiting for the South Carolina gentleman. 
If Capt. Hammond is arrived with any things 
from Boston, You will have them put in the 
Waggons & brought here. If she should not 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 239 

be arriv’d leave the Receipt with Mr. S. Pur- 
viance & desire him to receive the things and 
send them to me. The inclosed Letter give to 
Mr. Newliouse, one of the Waggoners, Send for 
him & let him know when you will be ready. 
I hope you will be able to pack up all your things 
quickly & have them on the way & that you will 
soon follow, be careful in packing and do not 
leave anything behind. Let Harry see that every¬ 
thing is safely stored in the waggons. I send 
Mr. McClosky, he will be very useful. I am 
confident Mr. & Mrs. Hilligas will assist you, 
pray my best Regds. to them. I have not had 
a moment’s time to go to their house but intend 
it today & shall write Mr. Hilligas by the Post. 
Young Mr. Hilligas got here on Saturday, he is 
well, he delivered me your letter & one from his 
father. I was exceeding glad to hear from you 
and hope soon to receive another Letter. I 
know you will set off as soon as You can. em 
deavor to make good stages. You may easily 
lodge at Mr. Steles’ at Bush the first night. It 
is a good house. However I must leave those 
matters to you as the Road must in great meas¬ 
ure determine your Stages. I do not imagine 
there is any danger of the small-pox on the Road. 
Wilmington is the most dangerous, but perhaps 
you can order your stage so as not to lodge at 
Wilmington, but go on to Chester. I want to 
get somebody cleaver to accompany you. I hope 


240 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

to send one to you, but if I should not be able, 
you must make out as well as you can. 

“11 March 

“ I will write you by the Post tomorrow. I 
can’t add as I am now call’d on. Take good 
care of Lydia. I hope no accident will happen. 
Inclosed you have a few memo, as to pack’g &c 
which I submit to your perusal. 

“ My best regds. to Mr & Mrs. Purviance 
Capt Nicholson & Lady, Mr. Luce & family 
& indeed all friends. My love to Miss Katy, 
tell her to Ransack the house & leave nothing 
behind. The Waggoners will attend you at all 
times. Remember me to all in the family. May 
every blessing of an Indulgent providence attend 
you. I most sincerely wish you a good journey 
& hope I shall soon, very soon, have the happi¬ 
ness of seeing you with the utmost affection 
and Love. My Dear Dolly, 

“ I am yours forever 

“ John Hancock. 


“ Doctor Bond call’d on me, Desir’d his com¬ 
pliments. He will inoculate the child as soon 
as it comes. 

“ Mrs. Washington got here on Saturday. 
I went to see her. She told me she Drank tea 
with you. 

“ Let Harry take the Continental Horse. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 241 


Saddle & Bridle, that I left at Mr. Purviance’s 
& tell Mr. Purviance to charge his keeping in 
his public credit. If Capt Hardy returns the 
Horse I lent him with the Saddle & Bridle he 
must also come. Get the heavy waggon off 
as soon as you can, that they may be here as 
early as possible as we shall much want the 
things after you get here. I have got your bundle 
safe with the Petticoat, Table Cloth, I have 
not sent it as I thought you would not want it.” 

The day following Hancock, in his solicitude, 
wrote again. This letter was published, a few 
years ago, in the New England Magazine: 

“ Philadelphia, 11 March 1777 
“ 9 o’clock Evening 

“ My dearest Dolly: No Congress to¬ 
day, and I have been as busily employ’d as 
you can conceive; quite lonesome & in a do- 
mestick situation that ought to be relieved as 
speedily as possible, this Relief depends upon 
you, and the greater Dispatch you make & the 
Sooner you arrive here, the more speedy will be 
my relief. I dispatched Harry, McClosky and 
Dennis this morning with Horses & a Waggon 
as winged Messengers to bring you along. God 
grant you a speedy and safe Journey to me. Mr. 
Pluckrose the Bearer of this going for Mrs. 
Morris, I have engaged him to proceed on to 


242 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Baltimore to deliver you this; I wrote you this 
morning to bring all the things that came from 
Boston to this place but should they be landed 
before you leave Baltimore, I could wish you 
would present One Quintal of the Salt Fish & 
three or four Loaves of the Sugar to Mr. Sam’l. 
Purviance, or in case they should not be landed, 
leave directions to have those articles taken out 
and presented to Mr. P with our Compliments. 
I forget what other things there are but if you 
choose to make presents of any of them, I pray 
you to do it. If in the prosecution of your 
Journey you can avoid lodging at the head of 
Elk, I wish you would, it is not so good as the 
other houses, but this must depend on Circum¬ 
stances; I wish you to make yr journey as 
agreeable as possible. Should any Gentlemen 
& Ladies accompany you out of Town do send 
McClosky forward to order a handsome Dinner 
and I beg you to pay every Expence, order Mc¬ 
Closky to direct the Landlord not to Receive 
a single farthing from any one but by your 
Direction & order a genteel Dinner; plenty — 
“ If Mr. Thomson cannot be ready with his 
Waggons as soon as you are, do not wait, but 
part of the Guard with an Officer must attend 
yours, & part be left to guard his, I only wish 
to have you here, and if you cannot readily 
attend to the Return of the things borrowed of 
Mr. Dugan, leave them in the Care of some trusty 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 243 

person to deliver them and pay him for his 
trouble. Am I not to have another letter from 
you ? Surely I must. I shall send off Mr. Rush 
a Tailor to-morrow or next day to meet you. 
I wish I could do better for you but we must 
Ruff it; I am so harassed with applications, & 
have been sending off Expresses to Call all the 
Members here, that I have as much as I can 
Turn my hands to; I don’t get down to dinner, 
Catch a Bit, I write, & then at it again [the 
writing is here illegible] ... if it promotes 
the cause I am happy, do beg Mr. Hillegas to 
send some money by my Waggons, or I shall 
be worn out with applications, pray hini to Take 
pity on me, I have lent my own stock already to 
stop some mouths. 

“ My respects to Mr. & Mrs. Hillegas, they 
must excuse my not writing now, I have not 
seen their son since he deliver’d me your Letter, 
I asked him to Call, but I suppose he is so en¬ 
gaged with his Connection he has not had time, 
I could wish to have it in my Power to do him 
any Service for the great regard I bear to his 
worthy Parents, I assure you I really love them, 
I wish they were Coming with you, I could then 
have a Family where I could with pleasure go, & 
ask them a hundred Questions, & take a thou¬ 
sand Liberties with them, that I cannot do in 
any Family now here, I shall Regret their 
absence, but I am Determin’d to make a point 


244 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

of having them up, for I cannot attend to the 
applications that are made to me in conse¬ 
quence of the Treasurer’s absence; he must 
come, I shall come if I have any influence. 

“ Lucy & Nancy call’d on me, I was busy 
over papers, we drank a glass together to our 
Baltimore Friends, I waited on them home, & 
return’d to my Cottage; Jo comes in with a 
plate of minc’d Veal, that I must stop, I shall 
take the plate in one hand, the knife in the other, 
without cloath, or any Comfort, & Eat a little 
& then to writing, for I have not room on the 
Table to put a plate, I am up to the eyes in 
papers. Adieu for the present. 

“ The Inclosed Letter Lucy just sent me for 
you. — Supper is over, no Relish, nor shall I 
have till I have you here, & I wish Mr. & Mrs. 
Hilligas to join us at Supper on Tuesday Eveng 
when I shall expect you. I shall have Fires 
made & everything ready for your Reception, 
tho’ I don’t mean to hurry you beyond measure, 
do as you like, don’t fatigue yourself in Travel¬ 
ling too fast. I keep Josh on trial, he promises 
Reformation, he knows fully his fate. My best 
Regards to Mr. & Mrs. Purviance, to Mr. Lay 
& Family, Capt Nicholson & wife, Mr. Stewart 
& wife & all Friends. Tell Mr. Purviance & 
Capt. Nicholson I shall write them fully in a day 
or two and Determine all matters to their satis¬ 
faction, I am so worried that I cannot even steal 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 245 


time to write them now. Tell Mr. Purviance I 
Rec’d his Letter by Post and will forward the 
Letters he Inclosed me to Boston & Newbury 
to-morrow. Pray let Dr. Wisenhall know that 
I Re’d his Letter, & am much obliged for his 
attention to the Child & that I will do everything 
in my power for the Gentleman who he mentions 
in his Letter, you will Recompense him for 
calling to see the Child. 

“ Remember me to all the Family. If Nancy 
inclines to come in the Waggon and you like 
it she may Come, do as you like in every in¬ 
stance my love to Miss Katy, tell her if anything 
is left behind, I shall have at her, for she Ran¬ 
sack’d when we left Philadelphia & she must 
do the same now — 

“ The Opinion of some seems to be that the 
Troops will leave New York, where bound none 
yet know; one thing I know that they can’t 
at present come here, perhaps they are going 
to Boston or up North River. Time wil dis¬ 
cover. Never fear, we shall get the day finally 
with the smiles of heaven. 

“ Do Take precious Care of our dear little 
Lydia. 

“ Adieu. I long to see You; Take Care of 
Yourself; I am, 

“ my Dear Girl 

“ Yours most affectionately 

“ John Hancock ” 


246 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

“ Do let Harry Buy & bring 1 or 2 Bushells of 
Parsnips. Bring all the wine, none to be got 
here. ,, 

All his life John Hancock had struggles with 
a tendency to that form of rheumatism which, 
when a man gets old, is called gout. The climate 
of Philadelphia did not in the least agree with 
him and, in the summer, he found it very nearly 
unbearable. During the hot weather he lacked, 
also, the comfort of a well-kept home, for Mrs. 
Hancock was away on a visit. In the following 
missive, which he sent to her addressed “ Mrs. 
Hancock at Worcester or Boston ” (and which 
was published in 1858 in the New England His¬ 
torical Register), it is plain that he has made up 
his mind that his health will not permit him to 
continue to serve his country as President of the 
Congress at Philadelphia. 

“ York Town October 18th 1777 
“ My dear Dolly 

“ I am now at this Date & not a line from you. 
Not a single word have I heard from you since 
your letter by Dodd, immediately upon your 
arrival at Worcester, which you may judge 
affects me not a little, but I must submit & 
will only say that I expected oftener to have 
been the object of your attention. 

“ This is my sixth Letter to you. The former 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 247 

ones I hope you have Rec’d, by the Completion 
of those Letters you will I dare say be appre¬ 
hensive that my stay here was nearly Deter¬ 
mined for the winter & that I had thoughts of 
soliciting your Return to me. My thoughts on 
that subject were for a season serious, but va¬ 
rious reasons have occurred to induce me to 
alter my Resolutions, and I am now to inform 
you that I have come to a fixed Determination 
to Return to Boston for a short time & I have 
notified Congress in form of my Intentions. 
You will therefore please immediately on Re¬ 
ceipt of this tell Mr. Sprigs to prepare the 
Light Carriage & Four Horses & himself to 
be ready to proceed on to Hartford or Fairfield, 
as I shall hereafter direct to meet me on the 
Road. If my old Black Horses are not able to 
perform the journey he must hire two. The 
particular Time of my setting out & when (I 
would have Sprigs come forward) you shall 
know by Dodd, the Express who I shall Dis¬ 
patch tomorrow morning. My present Inten¬ 
tion is to leave Congress in eight days, but more 
particulars in my next. I shall hope & must 
Desire that you will take a Seat in the carriage 
& meet me on the Road, which will much ad¬ 
vance your health, & you may be assured will 
be highly satisfactory to me, & I have desired 
Mr. Bant to accompany you in the carriage & 
when we meet he can take my sulkey and I re- 


248 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


turn with you in the carriage to town. Mr Bant 
must hire or borrow a Servant to attend you 
on Horse back as Harry & Ned are both with 
me & Joe is not suitable. My dear I hope your 
health will admit of your coming with Mr Bant. 
I long to see you. I shall close all my Business 
in three Days & indeed have already nearly 
finished, & when once I set out shall travel 
with great speed. Nothing shall prevent my 
seeing you soon with the leave of providence; 
but a prevention of passing the North River 
I shall push hard to get over, even if I go as far 
as Albany. I need not tell you there will be 
no occasion of you writing me after the receipt 
of this. My best wishes attend you for every 
good. I have much to say, which I leave to a 
Cheerful Evening with you in person. 

“ God Bless you my Dear Dolly 
“ I am 

“ Yours most affectionately 

“ John Hancock.” 

The next letter, treasured for many years by 
Mrs. Wales, shows him on his way. 

“ Dover (within 60 miles of Hartford) 
“ Saturday 1 of Clock 
“ 8 Nov. 1777 

“ My Dear: I am thus far on my journey to 
meet you, thank Luck for it. I have gone thro’ 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 249 


many Difficulties on the Road, but that I shall 
not mind. The Remembrance of these Diffi¬ 
culties will vanish when I have the happiness 
of seeing You. I am still obliged to have my 
foot wrapped up in Baize, but I brave all these 
things. I hire this person to carry You this 
letter in Confidence it will meet You at Hart¬ 
ford. I shall get along as fast as I can, but 
having a party of Light horse with me and a 
waggon I do not travel so fast as I otherwise 
should. What if you should on Monday morn¬ 
ing set out to meet me, on the Litchfield Road 
& then if I am not able to reach Hartford that 
day, I shall have the satisfaction of seeing You 
on the Road. If you think the ride will be too 
much I would not have you undertake it, but 
I hope You will not ride many miles before we 
shall meet, as I trust Mr. Bant is with you. my 
Regd’s to him, my best wishes attend him. 
Remember me to Mrs. Collier for I suppose you 
are there. I am sorry I cannot take Fairfield 
in my way but I crossed so high up it was not 
possible. I have much to say, but refer all to 
the happy time when I shall be with you. God 
bless you — my dear girl, and believe me with 
sincere affection “ Yours forever, 

“ John Hancock.” 

€€ Mrs. McDagle this moment comes into the 
Tavern & is going to dine with us.” 


250 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

That his well-loved lady gladdened his heart 
by falling in very agreeably with his plans we 
now know, for a Hartford paper gives us this 
glimpse of the pair in its issue of November 19: 
“ On Friday last passed through this town 
escorted by a party of light dragoons, the Hon. 
John Hancock, President of the American 
Congress, with his lady, on his way to Boston, 
after an absence, on public business, of more than 
two and a half years.” 

The Pennsylvania Ledger of January 7, 1778, 
has the following notice: “ This day arrived at 
Boston, in Massachusetts, under an escort of 
American light dragoons, the Honorable John 
Hancock, Esq., President of the American 
Congress, and first major-general of the militia 
of that state. By his coming in to town sooner 
than was expected, he avoided some public 
marks of respect which would otherwise have 
been paid him; his arrival was made known 
by ringing the bells, the discharge of thirteen 
cannon of Colonel Craft’s park of artillery on 
the common, the cannon on the fortress on 
Fort Hill, and the shipping in the harbor. The 
independent and light infantry companies paid 
him their military salutes. He received the 
compliments of gentlemen of all orders; and 
every indication was given of the sense the public 
has of his important services to the American 
cause.” 


CHAPTER X 


THE MAN OF THE TOWN MEETING 

W HAT of Samuel Adams all this while? 

He, also, it will be remembered, was a 
delegate to the Continental Congress 
and had been named with Hancock in General 
Gage’s proclamation of June 12, 1775, offering 
pardon in the king’s name, to all, — save two, 
— “ who shall forthwith lay down their arms and 
return to the duties of peaceable subjects.” To 
Adams, particularly, applied, of course, the 
further clause in that proclamation which char¬ 
acterized the offences of the proscribed patriots 
as of “ too flagitious a Nature to admit of other 
Consideration than that of condign Punish¬ 
ment.” 

At this time as ever Adams was woefully 
poor. While he “ superintended the birth of 
the child Independence,” there were often no 
shoes for his own children, and only a scanty 
supply of food to spread on the table of his 
home on Purchase Street, Boston. His wife, 
Elizabeth Wells, was a very remarkable woman. 


252 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


however, and in some fashion or other she 
managed to keep the children in health and to 
darn her husband’s old coat so that it lasted 
until his friends got together to buy him a new 
one. As clerk of the Massachusetts House of 
Representatives Adams earned about a hundred 
pounds a year until he went to Congress and, 
for the rest, he wrote, as we have seen, for the 
press. Moreover, since his chosen friends were 
among the plain people, his own personal ex¬ 
penses were very slight. 

A memorable picture of him has been given 
by his biographer, James K. Hosmer, sitting 
side by side with some ship-carpenter on a 
block of oak, just above the tide, or with some 
shop-keeper in a fence corner sheltered from 
the wind, talking, ever talking, of freedom for 
his country. “ For he was particularly popular 
in the ship-yards, the craftsmen of which exer¬ 
cised a great influence, his own poverty, plain 
clothes and carelessness as to ceremony and 
display,” causing the laboring men to feel that 
he was more nearly on a level with themselves 
than Bowdoin, Cushing, Otis or Hancock, who, 
either because they possessed wealth or were 
affiliated with it, were counted among the workers 
as aristocrats. Of Adams’s daily walks and habits 
vivid hints are given in an affidavit taken at the 
time when an attempt was made to collect evi¬ 
dence against him to the end that he might be sent 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 253 

to England and there tried for treason. Noth¬ 
ing came of the project; but there is still pre¬ 
served in the London state-paper office the 
following curious memorial of the plan: 

“ The information of Richard Sylvester of 
Boston, inn-holder, taken before me, Thomas 
Hutchinson, Esq., Chief Justice of said prov¬ 
ince, this twenty-third of January, in the ninth 
year of his Majesty’s reign: 

“ This informant sayeth that the day after 
the boat belonging to Mr. Harrison was burnt, 
the last summer, the informant observed several 
parties of men gathered in the street at the south 
end of the town of Boston, in the forenoon of the 
day. The informant went up to one of the 
parties, and Mr. Samuel Adams, then one of 
the representatives of Boston, happened to 
join the same party near about the same time, 
trembling and in great agitation [this consti¬ 
tutional weakness of Adams has been elsewhere 
referred to]. The party consisted of about seven 
in number who were unknown to the informant, 
he having but little acquaintance with the in¬ 
habitants, or if any of them were known, he 
cannot now recollect them. The informant heard 
the said Samuel Adams then say to the said 
party, ‘ If you are men, behave like men. Let 
us take up arms immediately and be free and 
seize all the king’s officers. We shall have thirty 
thousand men to join us from the country.’ 


254 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

The informant then walked off believing his 
company was disagreeable. The informant 
further sayetli, that after the burning of the 
boat aforesaid, and before the arrival of the 
troops, that said Samuel Adams has been divers 
times in the house of the informant and at one 
of those times particularly the informant began 
a discourse concerning the times; and the said 
Samuel Adams said: ‘ We will not submit to 
any tax nor become slaves. We will take up 
arms and spend our last drop of blood before the 
king and Parliament shall impose on us, and 
settle crown officers to dragoon us. The country 
was first settled by our ancestors, therefore we 
are free and want no king. The times were 
never better in Rome than when they had no 
king and were a free state; and as this is a great 
empire we shall have it in our power to give 
laws to England.’ The informant further sayeth 
that at divers times between the burning of the 
boat aforesaid and the arrival of the troops 
aforesaid, he has heard the said Adams express 
himself in words to very much the same purpose, 
and that the informant’s wife has sometimes been 
present. . . . The informant further sayeth that, 
about a fortnight before the troops arrived, the 
aforesaid Samuel Adams being at the house 
of the informant, the informant asked him what 
he thought of the times. The said Adams an¬ 
swered with great alertness, that, on lighting 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 255 


the beacon, we should be joined with thirty 
thousand men from the country with their 
knapsacks and bayonets fixed, and added, ‘ We 
will destroy every soldier that dare put his foot 
on shore.’ ”... One cannot help feeling that 
Adams knew to whom he was talking as he 
made this last boastful remark. Can you not 
see the unctuous inn-holder, with mouth agape 
at the temerity of a man who should even think, 
much less say such bold things against George 
III? 

Adams talked very little for effect, however. 
Earnest writing and ceaseless doing were his 
concern. From the time when the Committee 
of Correspondence held its first meeting in the 
representatives’ chamber of the town-house, 
November 3, 1772, to the day when he fled 
from Lexington, he worked steadily, unswerv¬ 
ingly towards one definite end: that of stimu¬ 
lating in the people a firm resolve to resist 
the encroachments of the king. During the 
summer of 1774, while preparing for his de¬ 
parture to Philadelphia, he was the leading 
member of a Committee of Safety in Boston, 
whose particular work it was to afford employ¬ 
ment to the poor in the repairing of streets and 
building of wharves on the town’s land. Adams 
felt very keenly the sufferings of the common 
people and believed very deeply in their inherent 
worth; to R. H. Lee he wrote: “ It is the vir- 


256 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


tue of the yeomanry we are chiefly to depend 
upon.” 

Though he was fifty-three when he set off 
for Philadelphia the first time, Adams had never 
before left his native town, save for visits to 
places a few miles distant. His friends, as we 
have seen, fitted him out with clothes for this 
journey, and the expenses of travel and of his 
sojourn while Congress should be in session 
were arranged for by legislative appropria¬ 
tion. On August 10, 1774, the little party of 
four delegates started on the way: Thomas 
Cushing (in the place of Bowdoin, who was kept 
at home by the illness of his wife), Robert Treat 
Paine, Samuel and John Adams. They left 
the house of Cushing in considerable state ac¬ 
cording to John Andrews. “ Am told,” he 
writes, “ they made a very respectable parade 
in sight of five regiments encamped on the 
Common, being in a coach and four, preceded 
by two white servants, well mounted and armed, 
with four blacks behind in livery, two on horse¬ 
back and two footmen.” At Watertown they 
all had dinner with a number of friends who had 
travelled that far to wish them Godspeed. 

John Adams, writing to his wife, character¬ 
ized as “an agreeable jaunt ” the ensuing 
journey in a coach arranged for their special 
convenience, and one is glad indeed to think 
that Samuel Adams had the opportunity of 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 257 


this rare holiday. When they came into New 
Haven “ all the bells in town were set to ring¬ 
ing and the people, men, women, and children 
were crowding at the doors and windows as if 
to see a coronation.” In New York they stopped 
at the “ Bunch of Grapes ” tavern; at Princeton 
they were entertained by Dr. Witherspoon, the 
president of the college, and at length they ar¬ 
rived “ dirty and fatigued ” in Philadelphia, 
the four Massachusetts delegates there taking 
lodgings together “ with Miss Jane Port in 
Arch street.” 

Very tactfully, during those first sessions at 
Carpenters’ Hall, the Massachusetts men kept 
themselves and their views in the background. 
They had been warned by the active sons of 
liberty in Philadelphia that it would be diplo¬ 
matic to do this, inasmuch as they had the 
credit of being “ four desperate adventurers. 
. . . Mr. Cushing a harmless kind of man, 
but poor, and wholly dependent upon his 
popularity for his subsistence, Mr. Samuel 
Adams a very artful designing man, but des¬ 
perately poor and wholly dependent on his 
popularity with the lowest vulgar for his living, 
John Adams and Mr. Paine two young lawyers of 
no great talents, reputation or weight, who had 
no other means of raising themselves into con¬ 
sequence than by courting popularity.” More¬ 
over, it was understood that one, at least, of 


258 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


these four men wanted independence and at 
this stage of the game that was as unpopular in 
the south as was the Stamp Act itself. Thus 
coached, the Massachusetts men threw their 



influence so that the presidency of Congress 
was given to Peyton Randolph of Virginia, and 
the first important speech of the session was 
made by Patrick Henry. Yet at the very start 
Samuel Adams got in a stroke which demon- 



























OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 259 


strated anew his wonderful sagacity in dealing 
with men. John Adams tells the story: 

“ When the Congress first met Mr. Cushing 
made a motion that it should be opened with 
prayer. It was opposed by Mr. Jay of New 
York and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina, 
because we were so divided in religious senti¬ 
ments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some 
Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Con- 
gregationalists that we could not join in the same 
act of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams arose and 
said he was no bigot and could hear a prayer 
from a gentleman of piety and virtue who was 
at the same time a friend to his country. He 
was a stranger in Philadelphia but had heard 
that Mr. Duche deserved that character and 
therefore he moved that Mr. Duche, an Epis¬ 
copalian clergyman, might be desired to read 
prayers to the Congress, to-morrow morning. 
The motion was seconded and passed in the af¬ 
firmative. Mr. Randolph, our president, waited 
on Mr. Duche and received for answer that, if his 
health would permit, he certainly would. Ac¬ 
cordingly, next morning, he appeared with his 
clerk and in his pontificals, and read several 
prayers in the established form; and then read 
the Collect for the seventh day of September, 
which was the thirty-fifth Psalm [Plead my 
cause, O Lord with them that strive with me: 
fight against them that fight against me. . . . 


260 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness 
and of thy praise all the day long.] You must 
remember this was the morning next after we 
heard the horrible rumor of the cannonade 
of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an 
audience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained 
that Psalm to be read on that morning. After 
this, Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, 
struck out into an extemporary prayer which 
filled the bosom of every man present. I must 
confess I never heard a better prayer, or one 
so well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, 
Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such 
fervor such ardor such earnestness and pathos, 
and in language so elegant and sublime — for 
America for Congress, for the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, and especially for the town 
of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon 
everybody here.” 

Samuel Adams had known that it would have 
an excellent effect. But perhaps it was in re¬ 
ward for the catholicity he appeared to have 
shown that he was immediately placed with 
John Adams on a committee to see what rights 
of the colonies had been infringed, and to de¬ 
termine the best means of obtaining redress. 

In the interval between this first session 
of the Continental Congress and that to which 
Hancock and Adams repaired, directly after 
the skirmish at Lexington, occurred Boston’s 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 261 

last great town meeting before the outbreak 
of hostilities. Some chapters back we had a 
snap-shot glimpse of this, the fifth celebration 
of the Boston Massacre, but let us look at it again, 
giving Samuel Adams the centre of the stage 
as his biographer Wells has done, in the follow¬ 
ing report quoted from an obviously unsym¬ 
pathetic contemporary: 

“ The Selectmen, with Adams, Church, Han¬ 
cock, Cooper and others, assembled in the 
pulpit which was covered with black, and we all 
sat gaping at one another above an hour ex¬ 
pecting! At last a single horse chair stopped 
at the apothecary’s opposite the meeting, from 
which descended the orator (Warren) of the 
day; and entering the shop was followed by 
a servant with a bundle in which were the Cic¬ 
eronian toga &c. 

“ Having robed himself he proceeded across 
the street to the meeting, and being received 
into the pulpit, he was announced by one of his 
fraternity to be the person appointed to declaim 
on the occasion. He then put himself into a 
Demosthenian posture, and with a white hand¬ 
kerchief in his right hand and with his left in 
his breeches, — began and ended without action. 
He was applauded by the mob but groaned at 
by people of understanding. One of the pul¬ 
piteers (Adams) then got up and proposed the 
nomination of another to speak next year on 


262 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


the bloody Massacre — the first time that ex¬ 
pression was made to the audience, — when some 
officers cried, ‘ O fie, fie ! 9 The gallerians, 
apprehending fire, bounded out of the windows, 
and swarmed down the gutters like rats into 
the street. The Forty-third regiment returning 
accidentally from exercise with drums beating, 
threw the whole body into the greatest conster¬ 
nation. There were neither pageantry, exhi¬ 
bitions, processions, or bells tolling as usual, 
but the night was remarked for being the quiet¬ 
est these many months past.” 

Now the interesting thing is that Samuel 
Adams had expected that there would be trouble 
at this meeting. With fine tact, therefore, he 
invited the officers to take good seats, treated 
them with especial civility, and so warded off 
the riot which he felt sure was imminent. He 
practically says all this in a letter which he 
sent Richard Henry Lee of Virginia immediately 
afterwards, adding that he left them “ no pre¬ 
tence to behave ill, for it is a good maxim in 
Politicks as well as War to put and keep the 
enemy in the wrong.” 

Of course the events of the nineteenth of 
April so widened the breach between the pa¬ 
triots and the king’s soldiers that some kind 
of conflict was pretty generally seen to be inevi¬ 
table. Yet, even now Samuel Adams alone de¬ 
sired independence. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 263 


When the second Continental Congress as¬ 
sembled John Hancock was made president. 
Trust Samuel Adams now to persuade the mem¬ 
bers to look at matters his way, when the 
time should be ripe! Before proceeding to 
follow the official deliberations let us, however, 
get close to Adams the man, as we happily may 
do by means of the following letter sent to his 
wife, a fortnight after Gage had proscribed him, 
and now among the Adams papers in the Lenox 
library. New York: 


“ Phil., June 28th, 1775. 

“ My dearest Betsy, yesterday I received 
Letters from some of our friends at the Camp 
informing me of the Engagement between the 
American Troops and the Rebel Army in 
Charlestown. I can not but be greatly rejoyced 
at the tryed Valor of our Countrymen, who by 
all Accounts behaved with an intrepidity be¬ 
coming those who fought for their Liberties 
against the mercenary Soldiers of a Tyrant. It 
is painful to me to reflect on the Terror I must 
suppose you were under on hearing the Noise 
of War so near. Favor me my dear with an 
Account of your Apprehensions at that time, 
under your own hand. I pray God to cover 
the heads of our Countrymen in every day of 
Battle and ever to protect you from Injury 
in these distracted times. The Death of our 


264 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

truly amiable and worthy Friend Dr Warren is 
greatly afflicting; the Language of Friendship 
is, how shall we resign him; but it is our Duty 
to submit to the Dispensations of Heaven ‘ whose 
ways are ever gracious ever just/ He fell in the 
glorious Struggle for publick Liberty. Mr. 
Pitts and Dr. Church inform me that my dear 
Son has at length escaped from Prison at Bos¬ 
ton. . . . Remember me to my dear Hannah 
and sister Polly and to all Friends. Let me 
know where good old Surry is. Gage has made 
me respectable by naming me first among those 
who are to receive no favor from him. I thour- 
oughly despise him and his Proclamation. . . . 
The Clock is now striking twelve. I therefore 
wish you a good Night. 

“ Yours most affectionately, 

“ S. Adams.” 

The following September, while Mrs. Adams 
and her daughter were staying at Cambridge, 
— with her father, — and the son of the doughty 
Samuel was doing his duty as surgeon in the 
army of Washington nearby, the following 
letter, touching in its simplicity, found its way 
to the patriot himself struggling in his country’s 
behalf at Philadelphia: 

“ Cambridge Feb. 12, 1776 
“ My Dear, I Received your affectionate 
Letter by Fesenton and I thank you for your 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 265 

kind Concern for My health and safety. I beg 
you Would not give yourself any pain on our 
being so Near the Camp; the place I am in is 
so Situated, that if the Regulars should ever 
take Prospect Hill, which god forbid, I should 
be able to make an Escape, as I am within a few 
stone casts of a Back Road, Which Leads to 
the Most Retired part of New-Town. ... I 
beg you to Excuse the very poor Writing as My 
paper is Bad and my pen made with Scissars. 
I should be glad (my dear), if you shouldn’t 
come down soon, you would Write me Word 
Who to apply to for some Monney, for I am low 
in Cash and Every thing is very dear, 

“ May I subscribe myself yours 

“ Eliza’h Adams.” 

But now the time is at hand when, at the in¬ 
stigation of Adams, definite steps towards In¬ 
dependence were to be taken at Philadelphia. 
The plain people, whom he had long loved and 
trusted, had rallied to him just as he had known 
they would. To his opinion came, also, little 
by little, the men chosen by those people to be 
their representatives. Early in April, accord¬ 
ingly, we find Samuel Adams on the committee 
which reported the measure to abolish British 
custom-houses in the thirteen colonies and open 
their ports to the commerce of the world. By 
May 10 Congress, under the lead of John 


266 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Adams, had recommended the colonies to set 
up governments of their own, suppressing all 
crown authority. In May, also, the Virginia 
delegates were instructed from home to declare 
for independence. So the contagion spread, 
until, on June 5, Richard Henry Lee of Vir¬ 
ginia offered his resolution declaring the colo¬ 
nies free and independent states, recommending 
the formation of foreign alliances, and a plan 
of confederation. 

Debate on this epoch-making resolution began 
on the eighth of June. Unhappily there was 
then no Congressional Record so that authentic 
reports of what was said cannot anywhere be 
obtained. But Elbridge Gerry, many years 
afterward, told Samuel Adams’s daughter that 
the success of Lee’s measure was very largely 
due to the “ timely remarks ” of her father; 
that, by means of one long speech, characterized 
by Gerry as Samuel Adams’s ablest effort, two 
or three wavering members were finally con¬ 
vinced that independence must be attained. 
And so zealously did the Man of the Town 
Meeting work, during the three weeks interval 
allowed in order that hesitating delegates might 
consult their constituents, that, when the meas¬ 
ure was again taken up, on the first days of 
July, there was no longer a dissenting voice. 

Trumbull’s well-known picture of the “ Sign¬ 
ing of the Declaration of Independence ” makes 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 267 

the act appear a very impressive piece of cere¬ 
monial. But it seems not to have been so in 
reality. For the day was very hot and, from a 
stable near by, thousands of horse-flies and 
mosquitoes swarmed in to plague the members 
of the Congress by biting at them viciously 
through their silk stockings. To these untoward 
conditions, some historians tell us, we owe 
hastily-appended signatures at the bottom of the 
famous document. Wit flew around, too, as the 
different men signed. John Hancock set down 
his name in such shape “ that George the Third 
might read it without spectacles.” “ Now we 
must all hang together,” observed another 
member, as he affixed his signature. “ Or we 
shall all hang separately,” retorted the ever- 
waggish Franklin, signing his own honorable 
name. Inasmuch as Franklin had been par¬ 
ticularly slow to accept the idea of independence, 
one cannot help thinking that Samuel Adams 
must have experienced a special thrill of tri¬ 
umph as his great fellow-townsman thus com¬ 
mitted himself to the cause of an emancipated 
America. Yet there is only calm happiness 
and no note of personal pride to be read in a 
letter sent, soon afterwards, by Adams to his 
friend John Pitts at Boston: 

“Phil. July, 1776 

“ My dear Sir, you were informed by the 
last Post that Congress had declared the thirteen 


268 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

United Colonies free and independent States. 
It must be allowed by the impartial World that 
this Declaration has not been made rashly. 
Too Much I fear has been lost by Delay, but 
an accession of several Colonies has been 
gained by it. Delegates of every Colony were 
present and concurred in this important Act 
except those of New York, who were not au¬ 
thorized to give their Voice on the Question, 
but they have since publickly said that a new 
Convention was soon to meet in that Colony, 
and they had not the least Doubt of their acce¬ 
ding to it. Our path is now open to form a plan 
of Confederation and propose Alliances with 
foreign States. I hope our Affairs will now wear 
a more agreeable aspect than they have of late. 

s. A.” 

Yet if there was any man who had a right 
to be proud and to let a strain of jubilation 
get into his Boston letters at this period Samuel 
Adams was that man. For he it was, who by 
urging self-emancipation in season and out of 
season, by unremitting toil, by persistence, and 
above all by a shrewd manipulation of his fel¬ 
low-members had caused the Child Indepen¬ 
dence to be born. 


CHAPTER XI 


IN THE REIGN OF A REPUBLICAN “ KING ” 

I T was to a town in which independence 
was regarded as a joyful reality, — but 
over which, none the less, aristocratic ideas 
and ideals long continued to hold sway, — that 
Hancock had now returned. Before following 
his fortunes further let us, therefore, go back 
a bit and retrace the recent course of events in 
Boston. 

The day after the Declaration of Independ¬ 
ence had been signed at Philadelphia, Congress 
adopted the following resolution: “ Resolved 
that copies of the Declaration be sent to the 
several assemblies, conventions and councils 
of safety, and to the several commanding officers 
of continental army troops, that it be proclaimed 
in each of the United States and at the head 
of the army.” 

In accordance with this resolution John Han¬ 
cock, president of the Congress, had enclosed 
a copy of the Declaration to each of the States 
and to the various organizations named in the 


270 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

resolution. With* the Declaration was sent 
the following letter: “ I do myself the honor to 
enclose, in obedience to the commands of Con¬ 
gress, a copy of the Declaration of Independence, 
which you will please to have proclaimed in 
your colony in such way and manner as you 
shall judge best. The important consequences 
resulting to the American States from this 
Declaration of Independence, considered as the 
ground and foundation of a future government, 
will naturally suggest the propriety of proclaim¬ 
ing it in such a mode that the people may be in¬ 
formed of it.” 

Those were not the days of rapid transit, 
and even such an important communication 
as this could not be forwarded in haste, so that 
it was not until the eighteenth of July, 1776, 
that the Declaration was proclaimed in Boston. 
Naturally, everybody hurried to the State House 
to hear the great document read from the 
balcony. Among the eager and excited listeners 
was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, who 
immediately wrote her husband: “ Last Thurs¬ 
day, after hearing a very good sermon, I went 
with the multitude into King street to hear the 
Declaration Proclamation for Independence 
read and proclaimed. . . . Great attention was 
given to every word. . . . Thus ends royal 
authority in the state. And all the people shall 
say ‘ Amen.’ ” 



SAMUEL ADAMS 

Page 252 













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OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 271 

From the pen of a British officer, who was a 
prisoner on parole at Boston just then, we get, 
however, a more circumstantial account of the 
ceremony: “ On the 17th we each received a 
card from the governor [chairman Board of 
Selectmen ?] requesting the honor of his attend¬ 
ance at a specified hour on the morrow, in the 
Town Hall [Old State House]. As rumors 
were already afloat touching the decided stand 
that had been taken at Philadelphia, we were not 
without a suspicion as to the purport of this 
meeting, and we hesitated for awhile as to the 
propriety of giving the sanction of our counte¬ 
nance to a proceeding which we could not but 
regard as traitorous. Curiosity, however, got 
the better of scruples which, to say the truth, 
were not very well founded; and it was resolved, 
after a brief consultation, that the invitation 
ought to be accepted. Accordingly, at the hour 
appointed, we set out, arrayed in the full dress 
of our corps. 

“ As we passed through the town, we found 
it thronged in all quarters with persons of 
every age and both sexes. All were in their 
holiday suits, every eye beamed with delight, 
and every tongue was in rapid motion. King 
street [State street], Queen street [Court street], 
and the other streets adjoining the Council 
Chamber were lined with detachments from two 
battalions of infantry, tolerably well equipped; 


272 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

while in front of the jail [site of the Old Court 
House on Court street?] a brigade of artillery 
was drawn up, the gunners standing by their 
pieces with lighted matches; nor, to do them 
justice, was there any admixture of insolence 
in the joy which seemed to pervade all classes. 
Whether long residence among them, and the 
anxiety which we displayed never wantonly to 
offend their prejudices, had secured their esteem, 
or whether they considered it beneath the dignity 
of a grave people standing in a position so critical, 
to vent their spleen upon individuals entirely 
at their mercy, I do not know; but the marked 
respect with which we were treated, both by 
soldiers and civilians, could not be misunder¬ 
stood. The very crowd opened a lane for us to 
the door of the hall, and the troops gave us, as 
we mounted the steps, the salute due to officers 
of our rank. 

“ On entering the hall, we found it occupied 
by functionaries, military, civil and ecclesiastical; 
among whom the same good humor and excite¬ 
ment prevailed as among the people out of doors. 
They received us with great frankness and 
cordiality, and allotted to us such stations as 
enabled us to witness the whole of the ceremony, 
which was as simple as the most republican 
taste could have desired. 

“ Exactly as the clock struck one, Colonel 
Crafts, who occupied the chair, rose, and, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 273 

silence being obtained, read aloud the declara¬ 
tion, which announced to the world that the tie 
of allegiance and protection, which had so long 
held Britain and her North American colonies 
together, was forever separated. This being 
finished, the gentlemen stood up, and each, 
repeating the words as they were spoken by an 
officer, swore to uphold, at the sacrifice of life, 
the rights of his country. Meanwhile the town 
clerk read from a balcony the Declaration of 
Independence to the crowd; at the close of 
which, a shout began in the hall, passed like an 
electric spark to the streets, which rang with 
loud huzzas, the slow and measured boom of 
cannon, and the rattle of musketry. The 
batteries on Fort Hill, Dorchester Neck, the 
Castle [Fort Independence], Nantasket and Long 
Island, each saluted with thirteen guns. The 
artillery in the town fired thirteen rounds, and 
the infantry, scattered into thirteen divisions, 
poured forth thirteen volleys, all corresponding 
to the number of States which formed the Union. 
What followed may be described in a few words. 

“ There was a banquet in the Council Chamber, 
where all the richer citizens appeared, where 
much wine was drunk, and many appropriate 
toasts given. Large quantities of liquor were 
distributed among the crowd outside, whose 
patriotism, of course, grew more and more 
warm at every draught; and when night closed 


274 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


in, the darkness was effectually dispelled by a 
general and what was termed then a splendid 
illumination. I need not say that we neither 
joined, nor were expected to join, in any of 
the festivities. Having sufficiently gratified our 
curiosity, we returned to our lodgings and passed 
the remainder of the evening in a frame of mind 
such as our humiliating and irksome situation 
might be expected to produce.” 

The “ Independent and Chronicle ” of July 
25, 1776, tells us that after our prisoners had 
gone morosely to bed “ the King’s Arms, and 
every sign with any resemblance to it, whether 
Lion or Crown, Pestle and Mortar and Crown, 
Heart and Crown etc together with every sign 
that belonged to a Tory was taken down and 
made a general conflagration of in King street.” 
Some days later, the Declaration of Independ¬ 
ence was proclaimed in all the churches of 
Boston in compliance with an order from the 
Council. 

The war, of course, went on for seven years 
more, but it scarcely touched Boston again. 
The town had troubles enough without it, 
however, for the changes of fortune which had 
befallen the merchants greatly disturbed the 
internal prosperity of the place, and the working 
people were in a restless semi-violent condition. 
Samuel Adams was often incensed against 
Hancock for his display of wealth; but even 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 275 


Hancock issued invitations to a ball given by 
him at Concert Hall in 1780 on the back of 
playing cards, — which shows that the richest 
man in the place was straitened for some things. 

“ King Hancock ” was the sobriquet which 
the patriot earned by his aristocratic habits and 
mien; the Tory papers were never tired of mak¬ 
ing a butt of him. (And, sometimes, their 
observations were truthful as well as witty.) 
In the Pennsylvania Ledger of March 11, 1778, 
we find this paragraph: “ John Hancock of 
Boston appears in public with all the pageantry 
and state of an Oriental prince; he rides in an 
elegant chariot, which was taken in a prize to 
the ‘ Civil Usage * pirate vessel, and by the 
owners presented to him. He is attended by 
four servants dressed in superb livery, mounted 
on fine horses richly caparisoned; and escorted 
by fifty horsemen with drawn sabres, the one 
half of whom precede and the other follow his 
carriage.” 

Of course the correspondent must have been 
describing in this letter Hancock’s appearance 
on some occasion of ceremony. But, even then, 
the setting was a gorgeous one. Hancock, in 
fact, was never willing to forego any opportunity 
for display which offered. Soon there came 
plenty such opportunities, for he was elected 
first governor of Massachusetts in 1780 and, 
with the exception of an interim of two years 


276 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

(1785-1787) when James Bowdoin held that 
office, he was thus prominently in the service 
of his State until his death, October 8, 1793. 

During the earlier part of Hancock’s “ reign,” 
Massachusetts was only one of a group of 
loosely federated States scattered along the 
Atlantic coast. Even when the war had been 
concluded and the States were “ free ” they were 
not “ united.” For no satisfactory method of 
central government had yet been evolved. In 
the struggle incident to the establishment of 
such a government, Boston, of course, had its 
due share, the Federalist party, — made up 
of those who believed reconstruction was neces¬ 
sary, if the war should not turn out to have been 
in vain, — long combating with but finally 
triumphing over the slow-going conservatives. 
Thus it was that the Constitution, drawn up by 
the Convention held at Philadelphia in 1787, 
was ultimately adopted at Boston in January, 
1788. In this crisis Paul Revere and his me¬ 
chanic friends again played an important part, 
a mass-meeting at the Green Dragon Tavern 
casting on the scales at the psychological 
moment, what may have been the decisive 
weight in favor of the Constitution’s adoption. 
Once the step was taken, Boston character¬ 
istically celebrated it with a dinner, amicable 
speech-making and a long and imposing pro¬ 
cession. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 277 

In 1789 Washington was elected first president 
of the United States. The following autumn he 
made his famous tour of those New England 
States, which had already ratified the new Consti¬ 
tution, accompanied by John Adams, his vice- 
president. To Hancock the Boston portion of 
his visit was a trying ordeal, for the patriot had 
himself hoped for first honors at the hands of 
the American people and he was not able to 
conceal his pique. So he foolishly 44 stood upon 
his dignity,” taking the position that Washing¬ 
ton, as a foreign potentate, was bound by 
etiquette to pay the first visit to the ruler of the 
Commonwealth in which he found himself. 
Accordingly, he allowed the crowd assembled 
on the street that raw, chill day of the President’s 
arrival in Boston to contract what was for years 
known as 44 the Washington cold,” while awaiting 
the welcome he had no thought of extending to 
the distinguished visitor. Washington’s Diary 
is very entertaining reading at this point, because 
of its fine reticence in the matter of Hancock’s 
discourtesy. 

44 On October 24, dressed by Seven o’clock and 
set out at eight — at ten we arrived in Cambridge 
according to appointment; ... At this place 
the Lieut. Govr. Mr. Sami Adams, with the 
executive council met me and preceded my 
entrance into town — which was in every degree 
flattering and honorable. To pass over the 


278 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Minutiae of the arrangement for this purpose* 
it may suffice to say that at the entrance I was 
welcomed by the selectmen in a body. 

“ Then, following the Liet Govr. and Council 
in the order we came from Cambridge (pre¬ 
ceded by the Town Corps very handsomely 
dressed) we passed through the Citizens classed 
in their different professions, and under their 
own banners, till we came to the State House; 
from which across the Street an Arch was thrown; 
in the front of which was this inscription — 
‘ To the man who unites ail hearts 9 — and, on 
the other ‘ To Columbia’s favorite son 9 — and 
on one side thereof, next the State House, 
in a pannel decorated with a trophy, composed 
of the Arms of the United States — of the Com¬ 
monwealth of Massachusetts — and our French 
Allies, crowned with a wreath of Laurel, was 
this inscription — ‘ Boston relieved March 17, 
1776 ’ This Arch was handsomely ornamented, 
and over the Center of it a Canopy was erected 
20 feet high, with the American Eagle perched 
on the top. After passing through the Arch, 
and entering the State House at the S° End and 
ascending to the upper floor and returning to 
a Balcony at the N° end; three cheers was given 
by a vast concourse of people who, by this time, 
had assembled at the Arch — then followed an 
ode composed in honour of the President; and 
well sung by a band of select singers — after 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 279 


this three cheers — followed by the different 
Professions and Mechanics in the order they 
were drawn up, with their colours through a 
lane of the People, which had thronged about 
the arch under which they passed. 

“ The Streets, the Doors, windows and tops 
of Houses were crowded with well-dressed 
Ladies and Gentlemen. The procession being 
over I was conducted to my lodgings at a Widow 
Ingersoll’s (which is a very decent and good 
house) by the Leeut. Govr. and Council — accom¬ 
panied by the Vice President where they took 
leave of me. Having engaged yesterday to take 
an informal dinner with the Govr to-day, but 
under full persuasion that he would have waited 
upon me as soon as I should have arrived — I 
excused myself upon his not doing it, and in¬ 
forming me through his Secretary that he was 
too much indisposed to do it, being resolved to 
receive the visit. Dined at my lodgings where 
the Vice-President favored me with his company. 

“ October 25 — Attended Divine Service at 
the Episcopal Church whereof Dr. Parker is 
the incumbent [old Trinity on Summer Street] 
in the forenoon and the Congregational Church 
of Mr. Thatcher in the afternoon. Dined at 
my lodgings with the Vice-President. Mr. 
Bowdoin accompanied me to both Churches. 
Between the two I received a visit from the Govr. 
who assured me that indisposition alone pre- 


280 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


vented his doing it yesterday and that he was 
still indisposed; but as it had been suggested 
that he expected to receive the visit from the 
President, which he knew was improper, he was 
resolved at all haz’ds to pay his Compliments 
to-day.” 

Madame Hancock, who never forgot the duty 
a good wife owes to a quick-tempered man 
conspicuously before the public, insisted till 
the end of her life that her husband had really 
been too ill to welcome Washington in person 
the day he arrived. None the less the indelible 
impression has come down to us that the slight 
was deliberate on Hancock’s part. The letters 
exchanged between the two dignitaries before 
Hancock actually did pay his respects to Wash¬ 
ington are very amusing: 

“ Sunday 26th October 
“ half past twelve O’clock 

“ The Governor’s best respects to the Presi¬ 
dent. If at home and at leisure the Governor 
will do himself the honour to pay his respects 
in half an hour. This would have been done 
much sooner had his health in any degree per¬ 
mitted. He now hazards everything as it 
respects his health, for the desirable purpose.” 

Promptly this note went back to the mansion 
on the hill from the boarding-house at the 
juncture of Tremont and Court Streets: 




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PRAYER-BOOK REVISED FOR USE IN THE NEW REPUBLIC 

Page 281 





























TONTINE CRESCENT. 
Page 284 

























OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 281 


“ Sunday 26th October, one oclock 

“ The president of the United States presents 
his best respects to the Governor, and has the 
honor to inform him that he shall be at home 
till two o’clock. The President need not express 
the pleasure it will give him to see the Governor; 
but, at the same time, he most earnestly begs 
that the Governor will not hazard his health 
on the occasion.” 

Hancock came, however, heavily swathed 
in red flannel and borne upon the shoulders of 
two men straight into Washington’s drawing¬ 
room. The president was all solicitude concern¬ 
ing the painful and very inconvenient attack of 
gout, and with all courteous haste returned the 
visit. But he stayed only long enough to drink 
tea, returning to Widow Ingersoll’s to sleep, 
though Hancock had previously sent an express 
to meet him at Brookfield with an invitation to 
be his guest while in Boston, — and he had then 
accepted the governor’s offer of hospitality. 

One day of Washington’s visit to Boston was 
devoted in part to receiving visits from the clergy 
of the town. None appreciated more highly 
than he the benefit of religion to a well-ordered 
community; the congenial service at Trinity 
with its prayer-book substitution — in the peti¬ 
tion for those in authority — of the “ President 
of the United States ” for the king had touched 


282 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


him deeply. Other delegations which waited 
on him represented the Town of Boston, Harvard 
College, the Cincinnati, — and the Governor 
and Council of the state formally. “ After 
which, at 3 O’clock,” says the Diary, “ I dined 
at a large and elegant Dinner at Faneuil Hall, 
given by the Govr. and Council.” 

Even the Unitarians had a share of Washing¬ 
ton’s attention, for he went to an oratorio in 
King’s Chapel, at eleven o’clock, on the morning 
of the Faneuil Hall dinner. The transition of 
this stately edifice, built for Episcopal worship, 
into the use which obtains there to this day, 
dated some years back from the time of 
Washington’s visit. Deacon John Tudor, whose 
Diary has been quoted elsewhere, wrote thus 
quaintly about the matter on the first Sunday of 
November, 1782: “ I went to Chappie in Boston 
to hear Mr. Freeman Read prayer & preach. 
His Tex was Search the Scriptures. The Old 
South people met with the Church people. In 
the forenoon the Ch of England Service was 
carrd on & p. m. the Congregational way and 
boath Worshipd togather with the Ministers, 
tho’ Mr. Freeman was not Ordain’d, as he could 
not go to England in those unhappy times of 
War with England. And the Reason of the 2 
Congregations meeting in this way was, that 
the British troops when they had posession of 
the Town cruelly tore down all the inside of the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 283 

Old South Meeting house to exercise their 
Horses in, So that when the people that where 
forss’d oute of Town return’d they was oblig’d 
to borrow the Chappie to meet in. The Chappie 
people then went to Trinity Church, as Doer 
Canner their Minister went off with the British 
troops, when they were destitute of a preacher 
for some years, as the War continued between 
England & America. But about this time the 
Chappie people and said Freeman Agreed and 
with the Old South people met & Worshipt’d 
as aforesaid, and to me it was Agreeable to see 
former Bigatree so far gon & going off, and God 
grant that for Time to come boath Churchmen 
& Desenters may live in peace & Love.” 

The coming of Unitarianism (in 1785) has been 
classed by Henry Cabot Lodge, — in his interest¬ 
ing chapter in the “ Memorial History ” on this 
transition period which we are now discussing, — 
with the other momentous changes which meant 
the approach of a new era: “As the old century 
hastened to its close the old simplicity as well as 
the old stateliness and pomp slipped away. 
Those were the days when the gentry lived in 
large houses enclosed by handsome gardens, 
and amused themselves with card parties, 
dancing parties and weddings; when there 
were no theatres and nothing in the way of 
relaxation except these little social festivities. 
But the enemy was at the gates, a great hurrying, 


284 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

successful, driving democracy. Brick blocks 
threatened the gardens (the Tontine buildings, 
the first block in Boston, date from 1793), the 
theatre came, despite the august mandate of 
Governor Hancock; the elaborate and stately 
dress of the eighteenth century began to be 
pushed aside, first for grotesque and then for 
plainer fashions; the little interests of provincial 
days began to wane.” 

The old society had been full of brilliant color 
and John Hancock, everything about whom 
was picturesque, seems fittingly to have been its 
head. Though he may at times have deserved 
the epithet, “ the empty barrel,” which John 
Adams is said to have applied to him, he had 
very real spectacular value as ruler of the 
Puritan town. His house, with its dining hall 
in which sixty guests could easily be seated at a 
time and in which he was wont to entertain from 
a wheel-chair with brilliant talk, was one of the 
wonders of the time. A description of him as 
he appeared ten years before his death shows 
him “ dressed in a red velvet cap within which 
was one of fine linen. The latter was turned up 
over the lower edge of the velvet one two or 
three inches. He wore a blue damask gown 
lined with silk; a white stock, a white satin 
embroidered waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, 
white silk stockings and red morocco slippers. 
It was a general practice in genteel families to 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 285 


have a tankard of punch made in the morning 
and placed in a cooler when the season required 
it. At this visit Hancock took from the cooler, 
standing on the hearth, a full tankard and drank 
first himself, and then offered it to those present. ,, 
No one thought this impolite. It was as though 
the king had touched the cup! 

The time was one of much drinking; the 
tavern keepers were growing rich fast. It was 
a time of much eating also. Tables were loaded 
down with food. The working people dined, 
then as now, at about noon, but society folk 
had their heavy meal at two o’clock and three 
o’clock was the proper hour for ceremonious 
dinners. For some time there had been a good 
many concerts. A gentleman named Deblois 
had built Concert Hall in 1760, and here private 
entertainments of many kinds as well as select 
dancing parties were held. In order to obtain 
a card to the subscription assemblies here it 
was necessary that those in charge should unani¬ 
mously give their consent. There was thus a 
very real aristocracy in the new republic. 
Minuets were danced and there were contra 
dances; but cotillions were of a later date. A 
very great deal was made of marriages, and that 
admirable gossip William Sullivan tells us that 
the bride was visited daily for four successive 
weeks, — which seems to have been taking a 
very cruel advantage of a defenceless damsel 


286 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WATS 


Funerals were great events, also, private invita¬ 
tions being issued as well as public notice given 
and attendance being rigidly required of all 
concerned. 

Yet in many ways it was a very crude age and 
revolting is the only adjective which can properly 
characterize some of the public occurrences. 
It was during Governor Hancock’s time that 
Rachel Wall was hanged near the West Street 
gate of the Common “for stealing a hat.” The 
owner of the hat was Margaret Bender, and it 
is undoubtedly true that Rachel Wall threatened 
her with personal violence in addition to stealing 
her bonnet “ on the public highway, March 
18, 1789.” But hanging seems to have been a 
disproportionate punishment. 

Moreover, the “ civic feast ” of 1792, to 
celebrate the seeming success of the French 
Revolution, was an orgy which reflects no great 
credit upon eighteenth century civilization. “ A 
whole ox, skinned and dressed, leaving the head 
and horns entire and the eyes protruding from 
their sockets,” says William Sullivan, “ was 
turned on a great wooden spit before a furnace 
on Copp’s Hill, and when the animal was suffi¬ 
ciently roasted he was placed on a sledge or 
carriage and there properly supported and 
propped up was drawn through the principal 
streets of the town, and was followed by two 
cart-loads of bread and two hogs-heads of punch. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 287 


An immense concourse of people attended; . . . 
the procession terminated in State street, where 
a table was laid from the eastern end of the City 
Hall to near Kilby street; and on this table it 
w r as intended that the friends of liberty should 
feast from the roasted ox. 

“ The scene soon changed; the cutting up 
and distribution of the animal became ridicu¬ 
lous and soon riotous. The roasted fragments 
were throwm into the air, and hurled at female 
spectators who thronged the balconies and 
crowded the windows.” A pole sixty feet high, 
crowned with the horns of the unhappy ox, was 
erected at the place where the feast was most 
riotous, which place has ever since borne the 
name of Liberty Square. When the Bostonians 
found that they had been celebrating the coming 
in of “ Liberty ” on the very day that Louis XVI, 
who had been their good friend, was put to 
death on the guillotine they tardily came to 
their senses. This travesty in the name of liberty 
reminds me of an advertisement at an earlier 
date which may well enough be quoted here. It 
can be found in the Boston Gazette of January 2, 
1775: “To be sold by Public Auction, on 
Thursday next, at ten o’clock in the forenoon, 
all the Household Furniture, belonging to the 
Estate of the Rev. Mr. Moorhead, deceased, 
consisting of Tables, Chairs, Looking Glasses, 
Feather Beds, Bedsteads and Bedding, Pewter, 


288 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Brass, sundry Pieces of Plate &c, A valuable 
collection of Books — Also a likely Negro Lad — 
The sale to be at the House in Auchmuty’s Lane, 
[Essex street] South End, not far from Liberty 
Tree.” A human being sold as a slave, in Boston, 
not far from Liberty Tree, in 1775! 

One striking character whom we must always 
associate with Hancock’s “ reign ” was the 
highly original Madam Haley. Madam Haley 
was the sister of John Wilkes, and widow of a 
rich London merchant. She had come to 
America in 1785 to look after her husband’s 
property and the better to do this she married 
her steward, Patrick Jeffry. She lived in great 
magnificence in what is best known as the 
Gardiner Greene house and when Charlestown 
bridge was opened she paid, it is said, five 
hundred dollars for the privilege of being the 
first to drive over it. Her carriage on this 
occasion was drawn by four white horses. 

A great deal was made of the opening of this 
bridge. The Diary of Deacon John Tudor 
describes the festivity thus: “ June 17, 1786, 
This day Charles River bridge was finished, 
when a vast concourse of people passed over: 
There was two tables of 320 feet sett up on 
Bunker’s hill, the place where the Battle w’as 
fought with the Brittons this Day 11 years, on 
the Day Charlestown was burnt. This Day 
of festivity & joy was Kept so as to entertain 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 289 


800 Gentlemen; the Governor’s &c &c was pres¬ 
ent. 13 Tosts &c was drank &c &c. Sutch a 
Concourse of people, Carriages &c I never Saw 
at one Time before; Said Bridge is 1503 feet 
long encluding the abutments and is the greatest 
peice of Work ever don in Emerica. . . . The 
breadth of the Bridge 42 feet & Ornamented 
with 40 Lamps, which make a Sparkling Show 
in the Night.” [This was the first bridge ever 
built between Boston and Charlestown and it 
was situated in about the place of that now used 
by the Elevated Road. John Hancock headed 
the list of its incorporators; the company was 
empowered to collect tolls (which were to be 
doubled on the Lord’s day) for a term of forty 
years, on condition of paying two hundred 
pounds annually to Harvard College to com¬ 
pensate that institution for the loss of the ferri¬ 
age between Boston and Charlestown. The 
enterprise was financially successful, and con¬ 
tinued to be so until the Warren free bridge was 
built in 1828.] So it was quite a safe bridge for 
Madam Haley to drive over in her splendid 
carriage at the head of the procession. 

There is a story that a country man once 
called on this interesting and eccentric lady at 
her Boston house and, having been accorded the 
privilege of seeing her, owned that he came from 
curiosity, having heard so much about her. 
Thereupon Madam Haley asked what he might 


290 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

have heard. “ That you were very rich,” he 
returned simply, “ that you live in great style, 
do much good and are very homely.” 

“ Now you see me,” said the lady, “ what do 
you think about it ? 

“ I swear I believe it’s all true! ” answered her 
candid caller. 

The house in Milton which had been 
Governor Hutchinson’s also attracted Madam 
Haley-Jeffry and she purchased it. When she 
returned to England she left Jeffry there in 
possession of all the furniture, plate, and orna¬ 
ments which had been hers. Jeffry lived a gay 
life: he had a retinue of servants at his command 
and entertained magnificently. A club of men 
dined with him every week; and after the gay 
talk and excellent wines the guests took their 
leave and were driven to the front door, where 
they sat in their carriage while the host, bare¬ 
headed, pledged them in one glass more. 

It is Madam Haley who is referred to as 
Madam H. in William Beloe’s eccentric work, 
“ The Sexagenarian; or the Recollections of 
a Literary Life ” (1817). Beloe was a Londoner, 
who is described by Southey, in one of his letters, 
as “an odd man who talks in a dialect of his 
own which puzzled me confoundedly.” Yet 
it is perfectly easy to follow Beloe’s racy account 
of Madam Haley, whom he seems to have known 
well. This lady, he says “ was the sister of 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 291 


John Wilkes of famous memory, had a large 
portion of his intellectual endowments, and was 
very little his inferior in vivacity humour and 
wit.” 

Jeffry, it appears, was her third husband, 
Haley having originally been the head clerk of 
the man who acquired the family fortune. 
“ Haley was a plain sensible good sort of man,” 
declares Beloe, 44 wholly absorbed in commercial 
pursuits, who soon found it expedient, for the 
sake of a quiet life, to suffer his cara sposa to do 
as she liked. She was exceedingly well informed, 
had read a great deal, possessed a fine taste, 
and, with respect to literary merit, considerable 
judgment. She accordingly sought with much 
avidity the society of those who were distin¬ 
guished in the world by their talents and their 
writings. When the expression 4 of those ’ is used 
it must be understood to apply to men only, for 
on all occasions, she was at no pains to conceal 
her contemptuous opinion of her own sex; and it 
was no uncommon thing to. see her at table 
surrounded with ten or twelve eminent men, 
without a single female. 

44 She had great conversational talents, and 
unfortunately, like her brother, she seldom 
permitted any ideas of religion or even of delicacy 
to impose a restraint upon her observations. 
Her disregard of propriety was also conspicu¬ 
ously manifested on other occasions. She in- 


292 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


variably attended all the more remarkable 
trials at the Old Bailey, where she regularly 
had a certain place reserved for her. When the 
discussion or trial was of such a nature that 
decorum, and indeed the Judges themselves, 
desired women to withdraw, she never stirred 
from her place but persisted in remaining to 
hear the whole, with the most unmoved and 
unblushing earnestness of attention.” 

Samuel Breck, who has before rendered us 
valuable service, gives us in his “ Recollections ” 
a pen picture of Madam Haley after she had 
settled down in her Boston home: “ She had 
certainly passed her grand climacteric, and in 
her mouth was a single tooth of an ebon color. 
Her favorite dress was a red cloth riding-habit 
and black beaver hat. In these she looked very 
like an old man. Thus attired on some gala 
day she was paying a visit to Mrs. Hancock, 
when Van Berkle, the Dutch envoy, happened 
to be in Boston. He came, of course, to salute 
the Governor, with whom, however, he was not 
personally acquainted. On entering the room 
he saw a venerable head, decorated with a hat 
and plumes belonging to a person robed in 
scarlet and seated in an arm-chair in a con¬ 
spicuous part of the room, and knowing that 
Governor Hancock was too gouty to walk, he 
very naturally concluded that the person before 
him was the master of the house. He accordingly 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 293 


approached and bowing said he hoped his 
Excellency was better; that being on a visit 
to Boston he had ventured to introduce himself, 
for the purpose of testifying in person his high 
admiration &c &c. Before his compliment was 
finished the lady undeceived‘ him but in such 
manner as to put the minister perfectly at his 
ease.” 

Madam Haley, according to Mr. Breck, was 
the “ principal star of Boston society. Her 
highly gifted mind and elegant manners much 
more than balanced her deficiency in beauty. 
She had surrounded herself with a menagerie, 
so that the court-yard was filled with cockatoes, 
poll parrots and monkeys; yet she felt herself 
lonely and set her cap for a husband.” Breck 
goes on to say that when she married Jeffry she 
gave him her entire fortune of seventy thousand 
pounds sterling. The date of the marriage is 
fixed by the records of Trinity Church, Boston, 
as February 13, 1786. Alderman Haley at this 
time had been dead five years. 

“ When a female approaching to seventy leads 
to the altar a bridegroom who has not seen 
thirty, the hours of Elysium seldom continue 
long,” observes Beloe crisply in his quaint 
book. “ In a very short interval a separation 
was mutually thought expedient. With such an 
allowance as her husband thought proper to 
make her . . . the lady took a very early 


294 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

opportunity of recrossing the Atlantic; and 
after a short residence in London fixed herself 
at Bath where she passed ‘ an old age of cards.’ ” 
She died there May 9, 1808, and Jeffry at Milton 
in 1812, aged sixty-four. So that while the 
difference in the ages of the couple was not 
quite so startling as Beloe represents, it was 
none the less considerable. Ten years before 
his death the Pemberton Square estate was sold 
by Jeffry to Jonathan Mason, and the next 
year Mason transferred it to Gardiner Greene. 
Greene’s lot included considerably more than 
the present Pemberton Square, for it ran back to 
Somerset Street and came down to Tremont 
Street. 

Hancock and Adams, who had been close 
friends at the time of the outbreak of the Revo¬ 
lution, were at cross purposes during many of 
the years that Hancock held the gubernatorial 
office. But it is a mistake to assume that Adams 
envied Hancock the position bestowed upon 
him by the franchises of the people. In a letter 
to his wife the sturdy old patriot wrote, in 1780: 
“ I flatter myself that this will prove a happy 
choice ... I am far from being an enemy to 
that gentleman though he has been prevailed 
upon to mark me as such. I have so much 
friendship for him as to wish with all my heart, 
that in the most critical circumstances, he may 
distinguish between his real friends and his 














OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 295 

flattering enemies: or rather between the real 
friends of the country and those who will be 
ready to offer the essence of flattery to him who 
is the first man in it. This will require an accu¬ 
rate knowledge of men. I therefore again wish 
that he may have the most faithful counsellors 
to assist him in the administration of affairs. 
Can I say more? If, with the best advice, he 
is able to hold the reins of government with 
dignity, I wish him a continuance of the honor. 
If he renders our country secure in a flour¬ 
ishing condition, I will never be so partial 
and unjust as to withhold my tribute of ap¬ 
plause.” 

Nor did he withhold that tribute. The 
difference between the friends was patched up 
and when Hancock succeeded Bowdoin as 
governor (in 1787) Samuel Adams became one of 
the members of the Council. When Washington 
visited Boston the older man was lieutenant 
governor as we have seen. And when “ King ” 
Hancock died, October 8, 1793 “ the man of the 
town meeting ” was chosen to be the head of 
affairs in Massachusetts. Adams was now over 
seventy years of age and as he followed, as chief 
mourner, the bier of his long-time friend, his 
strength failed him. On reaching State Street, 
he was obliged to withdraw from the procession. 
Hancock’s remains were interred in the old 
Granary Burying Ground, and for years the 


296 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


only marking of the grave was a bit of rough 
stone reading 

“ No. 16 
Tomb of 
Hancock 99 

The rich patriot left no children and his 
widow married James Captain Scott three years 
after his death. She lived to be a very old 
woman and, towards the end of her life, was by 
no means wealthy. 


CHAPTER XII 


AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AERONAUT 

O NE of the most interesting characters in 
Boston, at the end of the eighteenth 
century, was Dr. John Jeffries, famous 
in his time as the first American to cross 
the English channel in a balloon. For all I 
know he may be the only American who has 
ever so distinguished himself; the history of 
Aeronautics is a subject upon which I am no 
authority. But Jeffries is a unique person from 
several points of view and, in these days when all 
the world is interested in air-voyaging, his quaint 
and very rare account of his own exploits may 
well enough engage our attention. 

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes writes of having 
hidden behind the door in terror, when he was 
a little fellow, as he saw the venerable Dr. John 
Jeffries being ushered up over the stairs to take 
part in a consultation concerning a sick relative. 
But this fright must have been induced by the 
doctor and not by the man. For every one found 
Jeffries very charming. He was born in Boston 


298 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

in 1745 and died there September 16, 1819. 
Yet his sympathies, during the Revolution and 
after, were always with the British. It was 
he who, while wandering over the field of Bunker 
Hill as a surgeon of the king’s army, discovered 
and identified the body of the lamented Warren, 
— Warren, who had, only the day before, 
affectionately implored him to “ come over on 
the right side.” Jeffries, too, was one of those 
who were wont to sit nightly at Earl Percy’s 
hospitable dinner-table during the days of the 
Occupation and, in the account of his “ Voyages” 
he indignantly denies that it was a flag of the 
United States that he suspended from the car 
of his balloon as he set out on his epoch-making 
trip. 

Jeffries was graduated from Harvard in 1763. 
But for his medical training and his degrees in 
science he went to London and Aberdeen, — 
as indeed he must have done, — and at the 
evacuation of Boston he accompanied the troops 
to Halifax, where he was made by Lord Howe 
surgeon-general of the forces in Nova Scotia. 
In December, 1780, he resigned and returned to 
London, where he practised successfully and 
occupied himself with scientific investigation. 

Interested in all kinds of experiments, he 
spent a good deal of time studying the construc¬ 
tion of balloons, for when he was in his prime 
aerial navigation was the wonder topic of the 



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BOSTON IN 1802 FROM THE SOUTH BOSTON BRIDGE. 

Page 308 


















OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 299 


day, — just as flying-machines are now. The 
most daring aeronaut of that period was a 
Frenchman, Francois Blanchard, who had 
built a balloon with sails and a rudder which 
promised so well that Jeffries resolved to accom¬ 
pany him on a voyage for the purpose of making 
“ a full investigation of the nature and properties 
of the atmosphere which surrounds us ” and 
“ the effect which oars or wings might be made 
to produce in directing the course of the Balloon.” 
The paper in which the alert doctor described 
the resulting experiment was read before the 
Royal Society of London in January, 1786. 

The doctor had not found it at all easy to 
persuade Blanchard to let him come along as 
a passenger, for the aeronaut did not relish the 
idea of cluttering up his car with maps, numer¬ 
ous scientific instruments, and bottles for the 
reception of the atmosphere at different heights 
above the earth which Jeffries insisted upon 
taking. “ But,” says the narrator of the voyage, 
“ I resolved to gratify this, which had finally 
become my ruling passion.” In consideration 
of one hundred guineas presented him for that 
purpose Blanchard therefore let him come. 

This initial voyage of Dr. Jeffries was from 
London to Kent, and for it he provided himself, 
as he quaintly says, “ with a blank book of 
several sheets of paper in quarto, ruled into 
columns, the first to note the hour and minutes 


300 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

of the day, the next for the state of the thermom¬ 
eter, then for that of the Barometer, Electrom¬ 
eter and for transient remarks of what passed. 
I did not like to entrust to a common pen or to 
pencils, they being liable to accidents, and there¬ 
fore furnished myself with a silver one which 
answered my purpose extremely well. By this 
arrangement I Could, with the several instru¬ 
ments conveniently placed on the side of me in 
the Aerial Car easily take the state of each of 
them as they varied and enter it in the proper 
column. ” 

The place of the ascent was the Rhedarium, 
near Grosvenor Square, London, an unfavorable 
spot as it proved, because of the surrounding 
buildings. The day chosen was Monday, No¬ 
vember 29, 1784. “ I had also provided an 

handsome British Flag,” says Jeffries, “ which 
was invidiously misrepresented the next day, 
in one of the public papers, to have been the 
Flag of the American States. M. Blanchard 
received one from the hands of the Dutchess of 
Devonshire, emblazoned with the arms of that 
illustrious family; and while he was paying his 
respects to his Royal Highness the Prince of 
Wales, her Grace the Dutchess of Devonshire 
and other noble Personages, who, by their 
presence, condescended to patronize our Voyage, 

I was employed in our Aerial Car, in fixing and 
securing my instruments in the most safe and 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 301 

convenient manner; and at 34 minutes after 
two we arose over the railing which had enclosed 
the apparatus. ... In about six minutes from 
our ascent St. Paul’s appeared much diminished 
to my view. ... At 3 minutes past three the 
Thermometer had fallen to 35 [from 51 when they 
set off] the Barometer to 25 (from 30) and the 
Hydrometer had changed from 0 to 3 degrees dry. 
At this time the ships on the River Thames 
appeared like very small shallops or canoes in 
a narrow foggy creek. The clouds now seemed 
to have fallen greatly below us.” 

When, a few minutes later, the city of London 
“ could scarcely be distinguished by a prospect- 
glass ” both the voyagers were obliged to put 
on heavy furs, “ and a little dog which I had 
taken with me, crumpled himself up at my feet,” 
says Jeffries, “ and began to shake and shed 
tears with the cold.” Soon after this the men 
refreshed themselves with cold chicken, and 
drank wine to the health of their friends below. 
Then their descent began and, shortly after four 
o’clock, they landed in Kent, Jeffries “ a little 
fatigued and feverish but a bowl of warm tea 
set me right.” One interesting general observa¬ 
tion made by the experimenter is to the effect 
that, while he was in the car, he was so insensible 
of the motion that “ but for the disappearance 
or diminution of objects or from the rising or 
falling of the mercury in the Barometer ” he 


302 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

would have thought the balloon stationary, 
rapid though its progress certainly was! 

The great incident of Jeffries’ career was how¬ 
ever, his “ Aerial experiment, designed from the 
Royal Castle of Dover, across the British Channel 
into France.” The only condition upon which 
Blanchard would take a passenger on this trip 
was that if it were imperative that the balloon 
should be lightened of his weight the guest of 
the occasion should get out of the car, — pre¬ 
sumably plunging into the sea to drown. On 
this trip Jeffries did not take with him “ any 
other philosophical instrument but his barom¬ 
eter and mariner’s compass;” so that he had 
few things — beside himself — to cast overboard, 
should the balloon prematurely begin to turn 
earthward by reason of the weight it carried. 
But let us get the story from his own quaint 
and interesting narrative: 

“ The Balloon being filled a little before one 
o’clock, we suffered it to rise, so as to be dis¬ 
engaged from the apparatus for filling it and 
to be drawn down again just at the edge of the 
Cliff, where we attached the wings or oars. . . . 
And exactly at one o’clock (having in the Car 
with us, three sacks of sand ballast, of ten pounds 
each, a large parcel of pamphlets, two cork 
jackets, a few extra clothes of M. Blanchard, a 
number of inflated bladders with two small 
anchors or grapnels, with cords affixed to assist 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 303 


our landing) we rose slowly and majestically 
from the Cliff, which being at the time of our 
ascent from it almost covered with a beautiful 
assembly from the city, neighboring towns and 
villages, with carriages horses and so on together 
with the extensive Beach of Dover, crouded with 
a great concourse of people, with numbers of 
boats &c assembled near the shore, under the 
Cliffs, afforded us, at our first arising from them, 
a most beautiful and picturesque view indeed. 
[What a sentence!] ... At half past one the 
Balloon seemed to be extended to its utmost 
extent. ... At fifty minutes after one I found 
we were descending fast. We immediately cast 
out one sack of ballast; but the mercury in the 
Barometer still rising, we cast out half another 
sack; on which we began to rise and the mercury 
again to fall in the Barometer. We appeared at 
this time to be about one-third of the way from 
the English towards the French coast. 

“ We now began to lose all distinct view of 
the Castle of Dover. At two o’clock we attached 
two small slings to the circle over us, towards 
each end of the Car, and a third in the middle of 
it, a little lower than the other two to rest our 
feet upon; the three being designed to favour 
our beaver-like retreat upwards in case we were 
forced down in to the water. We now found 
that we were descending again; on which occa¬ 
sion we were obliged to cast out the remaining 


304 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

sack and a half of ballast, sacks and all; not¬ 
withstanding which, not finding that we rose, 
we cast out a parcel of the pamphlets, and in 
a minute or two found, that we rose again; and 
now appeared to be about midway between the 
English and French coasts. 

“ At about quarter after two I found that we 
were again descending; this induced us to 
cast out, by small parcels, all the remaining 
pamphlets; notwithstanding which I could barely 
discover that we rose again. We had not now 
anything left to cast away as ballast in future, 
excepting the wings, apparatus, and ornaments 
or the Car with our cloaths, and a few little 
articles; but as a counterpart to such a situation 
we here had a most enchanting and alluring 
view of the French coast. 

“ At about half past two I found we were again 
descending very rapidly, the lower pole of the 
Balloon next to us having collapsed very much, 
so that the balloon did not appear to be three 
fourths distended with gaz. We immediately 
threw out all the little things we had wdth us 
such as biscuits apples &c and, after that, one 
of our oars or wings; but still descending, we 
cast away the other wing, and then the governail; 
having likewise had the precaution, for fear 
of accidents, while the Balloon was filling, partly 
to loosen and make it go easy, I now succeeded 
in attempting to reach without the Car, and 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 305 

unscrewing the moulinet, with all the apparatus 
I likewise cast that into the sea. Notwithstand¬ 
ing which, the Balloon not rising, we cut away 
all the lining and ornaments both within and 
on the outside of the Car, and, in like manner 
threw them into the sea; after which we cast 
away the only bottle we had taken with us, 
which, with its descent appeared to force out a 
considerable steam like smoke with a hissing 
or rushing noise; and when it struck the water 
we very sensibly (the instant before we heard 
the sound) felt the force of the shock on our Car; 
it appearing to have fallen directly perpendicular 
to us, although we had passed a considerable 
way during its descent. 

“ As we did not yet ascend we were obliged, 
though very unwillingly, to throw away our 
anchors and cords; but still approaching the 
sea we began to strip ourselves, and cast away 
our clothing, M. Blanchard first throwing away 
his extra coat, with his surtout; after which I 
cast away my only coat; and then M. Blanchard 
his other coat and trowsers; We then put on 
and adjusted our cork-jackets and prepared for 
the event. 

“ We appeared about this time to be about 
three quarters of the distance towards the 
French shore and we were now fallen so low, as 
to be beneath the plane of the French Cliffs. 
We were then preparing to get up into our slings 


306 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

when I found the mercury in the Barometer 
again falling and looking around soon observed 
that we were rising and that the pleasing view 
of France was enlarging and opening to us every 
moment, as we ascended, so as to overlook the 
high grounds. I judged that we were at this 
time about four or five miles from the shore and 
appeared to approach it fast. We soon had a 
fine view of Calais and we now ascended to a 
much greater height than at any former period 
of our voyage.” 

They had turned to the southwest, however, 
and were approaching a high forest! “ This 
appeared to be more extensive than it was prob¬ 
able we should be able to pass entirely over so 
we cast away one cork jacket and soon after it 
the other, which almost immediately checked 
and altered the angle of our descent. We had 
now approached so near to the tops of the trees 
of the forest as to discover that they were very 
large and rough and that we were descending 
with great velocity towards them; from which 
circumstances and from our direction at this 
time, ... I felt the necessity of casting away 
something to alter our course.” The expedient 
which was then adopted by these venturous 
voyagers, who had nothing else left to throw 
overboard, was one which would never have 
occurred to the mind of any person except a 
physician. The plan, when adopted, proved to 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 307 

be effective, however, for the ballast supplied 
“ from within ourselves ” as Jeffries puts it, 
so lightened the balloon that instead of being 
forced hard against the particularly high trees 
then imminent “ we passed along near them in 
such a manner as enabled me to catch hold 
of the topmost branches of one of them, and 
thereby arrest the farther Progress of the Bal¬ 
loon.” 

At a little before four o’clock, therefore, the 
two men, who were now very cold and stiff, 
descended “ tranquilly to the surface of the 
ground,” near the spot celebrated in history for 
the famous interview between Henry the Eighth, 
King of England, and Francis the First, King 
of France. A curious monument with a balloon¬ 
like ball on its apex was later erected by public 
authority upon this spot in commemoration of 
Jeffries’ interesting trip. Blanchard was re¬ 
warded for his share in this exploit by a gift 
from his king of two thousand four hundred 
dollars and a pension of two hundred and forty 
dollars. But, for some reason or other, he 
swore vengeance upon Jeffries and when he 
came to Philadelphia, in 1792, to make balloon 
ascensions, he took a very public manner of 
insulting the man who had been his companion 
on the famous voyage across the Channel. He 
employed Fielding, the best coachmaker of 
Philadelphia, to build him a vehicle that was 


308 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

to go without horses, the machinery of which 
was worked by a man standing on the footboard 
behind, who, by the alternate pressure of his 
feet, set the wheels going and expanded the 
wings of an eagle, which thus seemed to draw the 
carriage along in its flight. On the panels of 
this carriage, which was exhibited in all the 
large towns of the United States, Blanchard 
caused to be painted a picture of Jeffries in the 
balloon, holding a bottle of brandy to his mouth. 
A motto beneath intimated that, without the 
aid of this Dutch courage, the fortitude 
of the Boston doctor must, of necessity, have 
failed. 

As might be expected, however, this ill- 
advised behavior reacted upon Blanchard rather 
than upon Jeffries. For the latter was a re¬ 
nowned physician and Blanchard w r as known 
only as an adventurer whom the doctor had 
repeatedly rescued from the hands of insistent 
debtors. In the summer of 1789, Jeffries re¬ 
turned to Boston and delivered the first public 
lecture on anatomy ever given in New England. 
But public feeling was strongly against dissec¬ 
tions, and he was forced by mob violence to 
discontinue his discourses. He continued to 
contribute to the journals of the day, however, 
articles on this subject as well as about aerial 
travel, and until his death, in 1819, he was 
deferred to constantly by people of a scientific 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 309 


turn of mind. With the old ladies of Boston, 
who called him “ Jeffers ” and delightedly 
exchanged with him their latest news and gossip, 
he was a great favorite until the last. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE BEGINNINGS OF LITERATURE AND MUSIC 

A FAIRLY good index to the men and 
women writers of the Revolutionary period, 
and of the years immediately following, 
might be made from a bibliography of those who 
have been quoted in this volume. Governor 
Hutchinson, for instance, was a historian with¬ 
out consulting whom no one can hope to under¬ 
stand the events of which he was a part. His 
books are, indeed, the best of him, and it is very 
greatly to his credit that he kept his narrative 
judicial, even when he himself was an abused 
figure in the Massachusetts whose story he was 
telling. 

Without John Adams’s writings we should 
be much the poorer, also. Occasionally, he 
lighted up a gloomy epoch with a bit of vivid 
coloring which shows that, in a later time, he 
might have earned a good income from his pen. 
His description of the scene at the old State 
House, that day when the Writs of Assistance 
were being argued, is deservedly famous. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 311 

The press, in the pre-Revolutionary period, 
was pretty dull reading. There appears to have 
been nothing like the joy in authorship which 
obtained in the days when Benjamin Franklin 
helped his brother James to get out their trouble¬ 
some sheet. Richard Draper, who from 1762 
to 1774 conducted the News-Letter , with its 
numerous combinations, was on the side of the 
Crown and, during the occupation of Boston 
by the British, this paper, issued by his widow, 
is the only one to be found. The Boston Gazette 
of Edes and Gill, to which the patriots contrib¬ 
uted, was full enough of incitement to rebellion, 
but it is heavy reading to-day none the less. 
The Massachusetts Spy, published by Isaiah 
Thomas, a young man with the real journalistic 
gift, is a considerably livelier sheet; it was so 
lively, in fact, that Thomas had to pack off to 
Worcester just before the affair at Lexington. 
The Independent Chronicle And Universal Ad¬ 
vertiser was the sheet to which Samuel Adams 
tirelessly contributed. It was published on 
School Street, “ next door to Oliver Cromwell’s 
tavern.” 

Of the newspapers which flourished after the 
Revolution, the Massachusetts Centinal And 
Republican Journal is far and away the most 
interesting. Its first number appeared March 
24, 1784 and, for more than forty years, it con¬ 
tinued to be brought out by Major Benjamin 


312 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Russell, its original editor. It contained a 
great deal of what we should call to-day general 
miscellany, and it set the fashion of presenting 
this matter under very alluring headlines. Gold¬ 
smith’s “ Deserted Village ” ran in the Centinal 
under the department caption, “ The Helicon 
Reservoir! ” For a time there was very little of 
a newsy flavor about the sheet. Boston was a 
dull place just then, and its chief paper made no 
effort to conceal the fact. The first ripple on 
the surface appears to have been occasioned 
by the establishment of the Cincinnati, which 
though as harmless as any Daughters of the 
Revolution chapter of our own time raised, in 
the minds of the apprehensive, a bitter fear lest 
the time should speedily come “ when the 
whole remaining body of the people would be 
styled Plebians.” The Centinal , thereupon, 
poured oil on the waters by reminding the 
alarmists “ that his Excellency, George Washing¬ 
ton Esq., is president of the society, — a cir¬ 
cumstance that greatly recommends it.” 

In 1787 Mr. Russell made what was probably 
the first systematic attempt at reporting for any 
Boston newspaper. He had never studied 
stenography and the more easily to write down 
what was said he took the pulpit in the meeting¬ 
house where the debate was being held for his 
reporting desk. This shocked the puritanical 
notions of some, and a stand was fitted up for 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 313 

him in another place. Major Russell confesses 
in his published account of this meeting that he 
got so interested in the speech-making that he 
kept forgetting to write down what was said. 
It was Russell, by the by, who, on the occasion 
of President Monroe’s visit to Boston, in 1817, 
first used in any place the famous phrase, “ an 
era of good feeling.” 

The first daily in Boston dates from 1813; 
on March third of that year appeared the Boston 
Daily Advertiser , published by W. W. Clapp 
and edited by Horatio Bigelow. Mr. Bigelow 
remained the editor scarcely more than a year, 
however, the paper passing on April 6 , 1814, 
into the hands of Nathan Hale, who soon made 
it one of the leading newspapers of the country. 

Several women writers come to the front soon 
after the Revolution, one of them a real genius, — 
though she was a slave. The general attitude 
towards women who wrote had been well ex¬ 
pressed by Anne Bradstreet’s lines penned, in 
the middle of the seventeenth century, as the 
prologue to her book, “ The Tenth Muse: ” 


“ I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, 

Who says my hand a needle better fits; 

A poet’s pen all scorn I thus would wrong. 
For such despite they cast on female wits. 

If what I do prove well, it won’t advance; 
They’ll say ’tis stolen, or else it was by chance.” 


314 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

The last three lines seem to me very good work, 
far better than anything Phillis Wheatley ever 
wrote. Yet she is the genius of our present 
period. A native of Africa, she was brought to 
this country and sold as a slave in the year 1761. 
She was at this time a child of about seven, and 
when exhibited for sale in the slave market of 
the town, wore only a piece of old carpet 
wrapped about her. Yet she was bought at 
once by John Wheatley, a prosperous tailor of 
the time, for his w T ife, who wished to obtain a 
young negress. The Wheatleys already owned 
several slaves, “ but the females of them were 
getting something beyond the active periods of 
life,” says the chronicle. 

Mrs. Wheatley herself therefore visited the 
slave market on the day Phillis was put up, and 
chose the frail child from among several robust, 
healthy young women, led to this decision by 
the humble and modest demeanor, as well as 
by the interesting features of the little girl. 

From the very first, Phillis was treated with 
uncommon kindness. Though upon her pur¬ 
chase by the Wheatleys she could not speak the 
English language, she soon gave indications of 
remarkable intelligence, and was frequently 
seen endeavoring to make letters upon the wall 
with a piece of chalk or charcoal. 

Not long after the child’s first introduction 
to the family, a daughter of the house undertook 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 315 

to teach her to read and write. And so astonish¬ 
ing was the progress made by the little black 
girl that all thought of setting her at menial 
occupations was speedily abandoned. She was 
not even allowed to associate with the other 
domestics of her own color and condition. 

As Phillis increased in years, her mind de¬ 
veloped as it had early promised that it would, 
and she soon attracted the attention of the 
literary people of the time, who loaned her books 
and assisted her in the study of Latin, which had 
great attractions for her. Clergymen and others 
of high standing frequently visited her; but, 
notwithstanding the attention she received, and 
the distinction with which she was treated, she 
never ceased to be the same modest, gentle 
appealing negress that had won Mrs. Wheatley’s 
heart. 

The family made her one of themselves. She 
sat at their table and was invited with them to 
the social functions of the day. But always, 
away from the Wheatley home, she declined, 
though constantly requested, to sit at the table 
with the white folks. Asking that a side table 
might be laid for her, she dined modestly apart. 

When Phillis was sixteen she was received as 
a member of the church worshipping in our Old 
South Meeting-House, and that same year it 
was that she wrote on the death of the clergyman, 
the Rev. George Whitefield, one of her most 


316 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

remarkable poems. Mr. Whitefield, who was 
a native of England and a distinguished preacher, 
had been chaplain to the Countess of Hunting- 
ton. This last fact it is to which reference is 
made in the concluding stanza of the poem, here 
given entire, because it is very rare as well as 
because it possesses intrinsic interest: 


We hear no more the music of thy tongue; 

Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne, 
Possesst of glory, life and bliss unknown; 

We hear no more the music of thy tongue; 

Thy wonted auditories cense to throng. 

Thy sermons in unequalled accents flowed, 

And ev’ry bosom with devotion glowed; 

Thou didst in strains of eloquence refined, 
Inflame the heart and captivate the mind. 

Unhappy, we the setting sun deplore. 

So glorious once, but ah! it shines no more. 

Behold the prophet in his towering flight! 

He leaves the earth for heaven’s unmeasured height. 
And worlds unknown receive him from our sight. 
There Whitefield wings with rapid course his way. 
And sails to Zion through vast seas of day. 

Thy prayers, great saint, and thine incessant cries, 
Have pierced the bosom of thy native skies. 

Thou moon hast seen, and all the stars of light. 

How he has wrestled with his God by night. 

He prayed that grace in ev’ry heart might dwell; 

He longed to see America excel; 

He charged its youth that ev’ry grace divine 
Should with full lustre in their conduct shine. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 317 


That Saviour, which his soul did first receive, 
The greatest gift that ev’n a God can give, 

He freely offered to the num’rous throng. 

That on his lips with list’ning pleasure hung. 

“ Take him, ye wretched, for your only good. 
Take him, ye starving sinners, for your food; 

Ye thirsty, come to this life-giving stream, 

Ye preachers, take him for your joyful theme; 
Take him, my dear Americans,” he said, 

“ Be your complaints on his kind bosom laid: 

Take him, ye Africans, he longs for you; 
Impartial Saviour is his title due: 

Washed in the fountain of redeeming blood. 

You shall be sons, and kings, and priests to God.” 
Great Countess, we Americans revere 
Thy name and mingle in thy grief sincere; 

New England deeply feels, the orphans mourn 
Their more than father will no more return. 

But though arrested by the hand of death, 
Whitefield no more exerts his lab’ring breath. 
Yet let us view him in the eternal skies, 

Let ev’ry heart to this bright vision rise; 

While the tomb, safe, retains its sacred trust. 
Till life divine re-animates his dust. 


The manner in which Phillis wrote this and 
other poems is interesting: “ She was allowed/’ 
says her biographer in a quaint little volume now 
almost impossible to find, “ and even encouraged 
to follow the leading of her own genius; but 
nothing was forced upon her, nothing suggested 
or placed before her as a lure; her literary efforts 


318 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

were altogether the natural workings of her own 
mind. 

“ She did not have the power, it is curious to 
note, of retaining the creations of her own fancy 
for a long time in her mind. If during the vigil 
of a wakeful night, she amused herself by weav¬ 
ing a tale, she knew nothing of it in the morning. 
It had vanished in the land of dreams. Her kind 
mistress indulged her with a light, and in the 
cold season with a fire in her apartment during 
the night. The light was placed upon a table 
at her bedside with writing materials, that if 
anything occurred to her after she had retired, 
she might without rising or taking cold secure 
the swift-winged fancy ere it fled.” 

Phillis had always been frail, and this lack of 
ruggedness her devotion to books not improb¬ 
ably increased. For by this time she knew 
intimately the Old and New Testament, Pope’s 
Homer and the stories of heathen mythology, 
as well as ancient and modern geography, 
astronomy and ancient history. In the winter 
of 1773 the young girl’s health was so delicate 
that her physician advised a sea voyage. And, 
a son of the family being about to go to England 
on business, it was arranged that Phillis should 
accompany him and his wife. 

The attention that the young slave received 
in London offers one of the most remarkable 
instances that literary history can show of tribute 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 319 

on the part of an aristocracy to genius. She 
was presented to Lady Huntington, to Lord 
Dartmouth, and to Mr. Thornton, another 
benefactor of Dartmouth College, as well as to 
many other people of distinction. Court was not 
being held at St. James at that time, for it was 
rather late in the season when Phillis arrived in 
London, but this alone prevented her presenta¬ 
tion to the young monarch, George III, to 
whom on the repeal of the Stamp Act five years 
before she had addressed one of her most inter¬ 
esting poems. 

It was during the visit to London that her 
poems were first published by Archibald Bell. 
The small volume was dedicated to the Countess 
of Huntington, and contained as a frontispiece 
a striking likeness of Phillis herself (here repro¬ 
duced). To the book was prefixed a statement 
from her master that the girl’s history was really 
as has been here related, and a note to the public 
attesting that Governor Thomas Hutchinson, 
Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, John Hancock, 
the Hon. Harrison Otis, the Hon. James Bowdoin, 
the Rev. Samuel Mather and others of like stand¬ 
ing in Boston vouched for Phillis as the true 
author of the poems attributed to her. And 
this in spite of the fact, they wrote, that she was 
“ a young negro girl, who was but a few years 
since brought out an uncultivated barbarian 
from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is. 


320 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

under the disadvantage of serving as a slave in 
a family in this town.” 

Before many weeks, however, the illness of 
her kind friend and mistress, Mrs. Wheatley, 
recalled Phillis to Boston. And the death of 
this estimable lady and her husband soon fol¬ 
lowing, dark days began to come for the gifted 
slave. The son of the house had settled in Lon¬ 
don, and the daughter had a few years before 
become the wife of the Rev. John Lathrop, 
pastor of the Second Church in Boston. She it 
was who became the owner of Phillis upon the 
Wheatleys’ death. It would appear, however, 
that she speedily gave her young friend, for so 
she regarded her, her freedom. For when Phillis 
was married, as she soon was, she was styled “ a 
free negro.” 

Perhaps the most famous of all Phillis’ poems 
was that written about this period of her life 
(1775) to Washington, then in Cambridge. The 
tribute in question drew from the great general 
a brief, but appreciative, note, and the poem was 
duly published in the Pennsylvania Magazine 
or American Monthly Museum for April, 1776. 
For years this highly interesting poem was lost, 
but it was finally uncovered in 1851, when the 
Washington papers were transferred to our own 
Boston Athenaeum. 

Meanwhile Phillis had found the world a 
rather hard place for a free negro of poetic gifts. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 321 

A letter to a colored friend dated Boston, May 
29, 1778, runs: “ The vast variety of scenes that 
have passed before us these three years past 
will, to a reasonable mind, serve to convince 
us of the uncertain duration of all things tem¬ 
poral. . . . Direct your letters under cover to 
Mr. John Peters in Queen street.” 

This John Peters was destined to become the 
brilliant, but unworthy, partner of Phillis’ 
woman sorrows. He is called a “ respectable 
colored man who kept a grocery in Court street, 
had a very handsome person and good manners, 
wore a wig, carried a cane and quite acted out 
the ‘ gentleman.’ ” 

That he made love in a very persuasive fashion 
to the gifted Phillis one may well believe, for she 
soon married him, and was as soon repentant 
for such a step. Ere long, too, there were three 
children to be cared for, and no money for this 
purpose. The husband would not work at any 
lowly employment, and his business had quite 
failed under the stress of war times. 

Thus it was that the woman whose gifts had 
once made her feted and honored in England, 
as well as in America, died in squalor. In 1784 
her husband had become so shiftless and im¬ 
provident that he was forced to relieve himself 
of debt by an imprisonment in the county jail, 
while Phillis earned her own subsistence and 
that of her remaining child by laboring in a com- 


322 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

mon negro boarding house in the western part 
of the town. When liberated Peters worked 
as a journeyman baker, then he attempted 
to practise law, and finally he imposed upon 
the credulous by pretending to be a physi¬ 
cian. 

It was in December, 1784, that Phillis and 
the last child were carried to her final earthly 
resting place, and not one of the friends of her 
prosperity was there to follow her, for they had 
not been told by Peters of her death. All that 
is known of her death and burial may be 
summed up in the following notice published on 
the Thursday succeeding her decease in the Inde¬ 
pendent Chronicle: “ Last Lord’s day died Mrs. 
Phillis Peters (formerly Phillis Wheatley), aged 
31, known to the literary world by her celebrated 
miscellaneous poems. Her funeral is to be this 
afternoon, at 4 o’clock, from the house lately 
improved by Mr. Todd, nearly opposite Dr. 
Buifinch’s, at West Boston, where her friends 
and acquaintances are desired to attend.” 

The house thus referred to was situated near 
what was long the site of the Revere House in 
Bowdoin Square. Where the unhappy young 
woman was buried has never been known. But 
her “Poems On Various Subjects Religious And 
Moral” are much sought to-day by collectors, 
single copies of the book having sold recently 
for twenty-five dollars. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 323 

Another literary woman of exceeding interest 
is Mercy Otis Warren, sister of James Otis the 
patriot, to whom that famous man wrote in 
1766: “ This you may depend on, no man ever 
loved a sister better, & among all my conflicts I 
never forget yt I am endeavoring to serve you 
and yours.” Their family home was in Barn¬ 
stable on Cape Cod, and Alice Brown, who has 
written very sympathetically of Mrs. Warren, 
has likened the sweet relationship between these 
two to that of Maggie Tulliver and Tom. “ As 
Maggie trotted about after Tom, adoring, 
worshipful, glad of a glance, so the little Cape 
girl followed and imitated her big brother. They 
were more or less alike in temperament, — 
ardent, mobile, brilliant, though the girl must 
have had a stronger balance wheel to fit her for 
the ills of life.” 

Certainly, if we may judge from what she 
wrote as well as from what she was, Mercy 
Warren had a very finely poised mind. Her 
particular gift was what was then highly appre¬ 
ciated under the name of Satire. To-day some 
of her paragraphs fall rather flat, but this one, 
to a young woman with a taste for books might 
almost have been written in all seriousness to-day 
by an editor of a “ Woman’s Page.” It would 
seem, therefore, to be pretty good as satire: “ If 
you have a taste for the study of History, let me 
urge you not to indulge it, lest the picture of 


324 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


human nature in all ages of the world should 
give your features too serious a cast.” 

Mercy Otis herself did not marry until 1754, 
when she was twenty-six and that in those days 
meant that she was already almost an “ old 
maid.” But she and James Warren were very 
happy together for many years, and in their 
home at Plymouth she brought up several 
healthy happy children besides writing a num¬ 
ber of respectable “ works.” From her “ His¬ 
tory of the Revolution,” which is in many ways 
a really valuable book, I have already quoted in 
describing the character of Hancock. But her 
“ Poems Dramatic and Miscellaneous,” pub¬ 
lished in 1790, and about which a good deal is 
said in many chapters on post-revolutionary 
literature, is a very tiresome offering, chiefly 
occupied by two long and dull tragedies: “ The 
Sack of Rome ” and “ The Ladies of Castile.” 
A poem of hers, written on the Boston Tea 
Party and called the “ Squabble of the Sea 
Nymphs,” has the faults common to all her 
“ poetry.” 

It is odd to find that Mrs. Warren’s friends, 
Abigail Adams and Hannah Winthrop, were 
always beseeching her to put into verse descrip¬ 
tions of events much better suited to prose; 
often the very letter imploring her to poetic 
effusion would itself be literature, though its 
writer knew it not! Hannah Winthrop, for 




MRS. MERCY WARRETST. PHILLIS WHEATLEY 

Page 323 Page 315 








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OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 325 

instance, who lived so near the seat of war that 
the first shock and tumult of Lexington day left 
her covered with dust and smoke, wrote to Mrs. 
Warren a wonderful letter about her flight from 
Cambridge, begging that the moving scene be 
depicted as it ought by the literary lady’s 
“ poetic pencil.” Yet I challenge any pencil to 
do better than Mrs. Winthrop herself in the last 
paragraph of the following: “ Time will never 
erase the horrors of the midnight Cry preceding 
the Bloody Massacre at Lexington, when we 
were roused from the benign slumbers of the 
season, by beat of drum & ringing of Bell, with 
the dire alarm That a thousand of the Troops 
of George the third were gone forth to murder 
the peaceful inhabitants of the surrounding 
villages, a few hours with the dawning day 
Convinced us the bloody purpose was executing. 
The platoon firing assuring us the rising sun 
must witness the Bloody Carnage. 

“ Not knowing what the event would be at 
Cambridge at the return of these bloody ruffians, 
and seeing another Brigade despatched to the 
Assistance of the former, Looking with the 
ferocity of barbarians, it seemed necessary to 
retire to some place of safety till the calamity 
was passed. My partner had been a fortnight 
confind by illness. After dinner we went out 
not knowing whither we went, we were directed 
to a place calld fresh pond about a mile from the 


326 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

town but what a distressd house did we find 
there filld with women whose husbands were gone 
forth to meet the Assailants, 70 or 80 of these 
with numbers of infant children crying and 
agonizing for the Fate of their husbands. 

“ In addition to this scene of distress we were 
for some time in sight of the Battle, the glistening 
instruments of death proclaiming by an incessant 
fire, that much blood must be shed, that many 
widowd & orphand ones be left as monuments 
of that persecuting Barbarity of British Tyranny. 
Another uncomfortable night we passed some 
nodding in their Chairs, others resting their 
weary limbs on the floor. 

“ The welcome harbingers of day give notice 
of its dawning light but brings us news it is 
unsafe to return to Cambridge, as the enemy 
were advancing up the River & firing on the 
town, to stay in this place was impracticable. . . . 
Thus with precipitancy were we driven to the 
town of Andover, following some of our Ac¬ 
quaintance, five of us to be Conveyd with one 
poor tired horse & chaise. Thus we began 
our passage alternately walking and riding, the 
roads filld with frighted women & Children 
Some in carts with their tatterd furniture, others 
on foot fleeing into the woods. But what added 
greatly to the horror of the scene was our passing 
thro the Bloody field at Menotomy which was 
strewd with the mangled Bodies. We met one 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 327 

affectionate Father with a Cart looking for his 
murdered son & picking up his Neighbours who 
had fallen in Battle, in order for their Burial.” 

Yet this was not thought to be literature. 
Phoebus and other gentlemen of his class must 
adorn the pages then deemed worthy of print. 
Abigail Adams’s Letters, without which we 
should be infinitely poorer, were, for a long time, 
valued only by her husband and family. How 
well Mrs. Warren might have written if she had 
forgotten that Satire and Poetry were her “ line ” 
we may guess from one or two sentences turned 
off with no thought of “ production.” One is 
in defence of a woman of brains who had married 
a much younger man: “Probably Mrs. Ma¬ 
caulay’s independence of spirit led her to suppose 
she might associate for the remainder of life 
with an inoffensive, obliging youth with the same 
impunity a gentleman of three score and ten 
might marry a damsel of fifteen! ” Another is 
in regard to Lord Chesterfield’s strictures in his 
“ Letters ” upon women. “ I believe in this 
age of refinement and philosophy few men in¬ 
dulge a peculiar asperity with regard to the sex 
in general, but such as have been unfortunate 
in their acquaintance, unsuccessful in their 
address or sowered from repeated disappoint¬ 
ments.” Perhaps, after this, we may grant that 
Mrs. Warren really had a gift of Satire. 

Of the literary weeklies the New England 


328 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Galaxy , established in 1817 by Joseph T. 
Buckingham, was the best, though the Satur¬ 
day Evening Gazette antedated it by five years 
and survived it by more than seventy-five. 
The earliest of the class newspapers were those 
devoted to the interests of the various religious 
denominations. The idea of such sheets origi¬ 
nated in the mind of Nathaniel Willis, son of 
the printer of the Boston Chronicle and himself 
a printer. “ I talked with Christians in Boston 
about it,” he writes, “ but many, though they 
liked the plan, objected to it as impracticable. 

. . . Dr. Griffin said he had never heard of 
such a thing as religion in a newspaper. I said 
I had some experience in publishing a newspaper 
and believed it could be done if Christians would 
encourage it.” So, In 1816, Willis established 
the Boston Recorder , the representative of the 
Orthodox Congregationalists. The Baptists were 
next in the field with the Watchman and Reflector 
which dates from 1819, and which, perhaps, 
reached a larger circulation than any of its 
rivals. It still enjoys a large circulation under 
the name of the Watchman-Examiner . The 
Christian Register , established in 1821 to be the 
organ of the Unitarians, also survives to this day. 

The Massachusetts Historical Society, founded 
in 1790, published its collections at first in a 
weekly periodical called the American Apollo. 
Jeremy Belknap was determined from the begin- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 329 

ning that the society organized chiefly through 
his enthusiasm, should be “ an active not a 
passive literary body, should not lie waiting, 
like a bed of oysters, for the tide of communica¬ 
tion to flow in, but should seek and find, to 
preserve and communicate, literary intelligence 
especially in the historical way.” That the 
society has admirably lived up to this ideal 
every writer who has to do with historical 
material can testify. From 1789 dates the 
Massachusetts Magazine or Monthly Museum 
of Knowledge and Rational Entertainment — 
awful title! After eight years of sluggish life this 
ponderous undertaking died a natural death. 
A few years later its work was taken up, though 
in a different spirit, by an association of literary 
gentlemen calling themselves the Anthology 
Club, from which club sprang the Boston Athe¬ 
naeum. There is a highly interesting story here 
but as it does not particularly belong in a chapter 
on Boston’s literary undertakings I will pass on 
to mention that one member of the Anthology 
Club, William Tudor, began, in May, 1815, 
the publication of the North American Review , 
which for more than fifty years maintained its 
place at the very head of the periodical literature 
of the country. 

But what of other works by native authors? 
What of novels ? Were there none being pub¬ 
lished during all these years ? Very few, truth 


330 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

to tell. Hannah Adams, the first woman in 
America to devote herself to a life of literary 
study and production turned out several pon¬ 
derous tomes which no one ever reads now¬ 
adays, and Mrs. Susannah Rowson, who was 
an actress as well as an author, wrote “ Charlotte 
Temple,” a book always linked in memory with 
the similarly sentimental tale, “ The Coquette, 
or the History of Eliza Wharton,” produced by 
Mrs. John Foster of Brighton in 1785. 

The best writing of the time, as has already 
been hinted, was not deliberately given to the 
public. The letters, diaries and journals, by 
which we are enabled to humanize what, from 
its printed records, would appear to be a very 
stilted and uncongenial period, were written 
con amore by men and women, who, for the most 
part, had no thought of posterity when they put 
their pens to paper. For this we cannot be too 
grateful, I think, after we have compared their 
productions with those which Bostonians of the 
time wrote with the printer in mind. 

For the music of the period very little space 
will suffice. Music scarcely had a voice in Boston 
until William Billings, a tanner by trade, — 
who had been born in our town, October 7, 
1746, — made rude attempts to put into har¬ 
mony the songs which he heard in his own soul. 
Billings was an eccentric and uncouth character, 
easily ridiculed, even in his own day. He was 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 331 

deformed in person, blind in one eye, untidy in 
dress, with one leg shorter than the other. He 
is said to have chalked down his earliest com¬ 
positions upon sides of leather in the shop 
where he worked. But his music always had 
a spice of patriotism in it (a quality much prized 
at the time of the Revolution), and so greatly 
did the colonists like his work that the strains 
of his inspiring tunes were heard from every 
pipe in the New England ranks and led the way 
to victory on many a hard fought field. 

Governor Samuel Adams took great interest 
in the enthusiastic choir singer and composer 
and helped his work to find the audience that 
it deserved. Real patriots, indeed, could scarcely 
fail to admire the earnestness of the man. His 
“ Lamentation Over Boston ” appropriated 
boldly the beautiful 127th psalm, which he 
employed to lament the fact that Boston was in 
British hands. It begins: “By the rivers of 
Watertown we sat down; yea, we wept when we 
remembered Boston.” In the same strain he 
continues: “ If I forget thee, O Boston — then 
let my numbers cease to flow, then be my muse 
unkind; then let my tongue forget to move.” 

“ Retrospect,” “ Independence,” and “ Co¬ 
lumbia,” as well as verses set to the air of “ Ches¬ 
ter ” — this last very popular in the camps of 
the Revolutionary army — were other of Bil¬ 
lings’s productions. In 1778 he published an 


332 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

abridgement of his “ New England Psalm 
Singer,” which came to be known as “ Billings’ 
Best,” and certainly was a great improvement 
on the other work. In 1779 appeared “ Music 
in America,” containing thirty-two verses from 
his previous books, eleven old European tunes 
and thirty-one new and original compositions. 
In 1781 “ The Psalm Singer’s Amusement ” 
was given to the world and became exceedingly 
popular. 

In spite of his popularity, Billings was always 
poor, as may be proved by the following appeal 
printed in the Massachusetts Magazine of August, 
1792: “Addressed to the benevolent of every 
denomination: The distressing situation of Mr. 
Billings’ family has so sensibly operated on the 
minds of the committee as to induce their assist¬ 
ance in the intended publication of his work 
by subscription.” 

Billings is said to have been the first to intro¬ 
duce the violoncello into New England churches, 
a great step toward the eventual introduction of 
the organ. He was also probably the first to 
use the pitch pipe to “ set the tune.” He died 
in Boston, September 26, 1800, and published 
music almost to the last. His is probably one 
of the unmarked graves on Boston Common. 
It is generally conceded that Billings would have 
written really well had he had a musical educa¬ 
tion. Dr. Louis Elson has said of him that he 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 333 

“ broke the ice which was congealing New 
England’s music — for wdiich America owes 
him a great debt of gratitude in spite of his few 
thousand errors in harmony.” 

Oliver Holden, author of “ Coronation,” be- 



OLD HOUSE IN CHARLESTOWN, WHERE OLIVER HOLDEN LIVED AND 
WROTE “CORONATION” 


longs almost to Billings’s own period. He was 
born in Shirley, Massachusetts, in 1765, but 
in 1788 came to Charlestown, where he worked 
at his trade as carpenter. Musician though he 
was by nature, he was a good business man, too, 
and by reason of his real estate operations, he 




















334 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


soon became possessed of considerable wealth. 
The fine mansion-house which he built on Pearl 
Street, in Charlestown, and in which he wrote 
“ Coronation/ 5 is still standing. For many years 
it was the home of the Thomas Doane family 
(founders of Doane College, Crete, Nebraska), 
who carefully cherished its Holden traditions. 

The church for the dedication of which in 
May, 1801, “ Coronation ” was composed, stood 
almost in front of Oliver Holden’s house, and 
was occupied until 1810 by the Baptists of 
Charlestown. 

In addition to being a house builder and a 
musician, Mr. Holden was for many years a 
preacher for a religious society known as the 
Puritan Church. The services of this sect were 
like those of other Congregational bodies except 
that, for a while at least, the sacrament of the 
Lord’s Supper was observed every Sunday. For 
his connection here, as well as by reason of his 
music, Mr. Holden was greatly esteemed in the 
latter part of the eighteenth century. His first 
book of music, “ The American Harmony,” 
was published in 1793. Then, in 1795, appeared 
<s The Massachusetts Compiler,” and in 1797 
“ The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony.” 
This last named work was printed by Isaiah 
Thomas of Worcester from movable types 
bought in Europe, the last to be so bought, 
for use in this country. Mr. Holden re- 



OLIVER HOLDEN AND THE ORGAN UPON WHICH HE HARMONIZED 

“ CORONATION.” 

Page 334 










































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OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 335 


mained in Charlestown until his death (Sep¬ 
tember 4, 1844) at the age of seventy-nine. His 
“ Coronation ” is probably the best known 
American hymn ever written. 

The chief glory of his own day, however, 
came to Holden because he wrote the words 
and music of the hymn sung by the Independent 
Musical Society, of which he was director, 
when General Washington visited Boston dur¬ 
ing his administration. The song was rendered 
by this large chorus from the top of a triumphal 
arch, to the president standing on the balcony 
built out from the Old State House. Its words, 
as well as its music, are interesting and quaint: 


General Washington, the hero’s come, 
Each heart exulting hears the sound; 
See, thousands their deliverer throng, 
And shout him welcome all around. 
Now in full chorus bursts the song. 
And shout the deeds of Washington. 


This ode was performed a second time at the 
World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 
1893. 

John Howard Payne, author of “ Home 
Sweet Home,” belongs to the Boston of this 
period also. But since it was as actor that he 
first earned fame I have told the romantic story 
of his life in the later chapter on the early 
theatres and their stars. 


CHAPTER XIV 


SOME FAMOUS FRENCH VISITORS TO THE TOWN 

T HE uses of hospitality in the early years 
of the young Republic can scarcely be 
over-estimated. And particularly im¬ 
portant to friendly relations with the valuable 
ally which Franklin had labored so hard to 
secure for us were the entertainments made in 
Boston and elsewhere, while the war was still 
in progress, for the French fleet and the visitors 
who came in their train. When Admiral D’Es- 
taing with twelve sail of the line, four frigates and 
four thousand troops sailed into the Delaware, 
bringing with him M. Gerard, the ambassador, 
Congress prepared a great reception at Phila¬ 
delphia, at which Samuel Adams was master 
of ceremonies. But an even more magnificent 
entertainment came when Hancock welcomed 
the French to his house in Boston. There is 
extant a humorous letter to Henry Quincy, then 
in Providence, which shows that the host of this 
occasion was a little perturbed at the prospect 
of the impending drain upon his resources: 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 337 

“ Monday noon, Aug. 30,1779 

“ Dear Sir — The Philistines are coming 
upon me on Wednesday next. To be serious, 
the Ambassadors, &c., &c., are to dine with 
me & I have nothing to give them, or from the 
present prospect of our market, do I see that I 
shall be able to get anything in Town. I beg 
you to recommend to my man Harry where he 
may get chickens, geese, hams, Partridges, 
mutton, &c., that will save my reputation in a 
dinner, . . . and by all means some Butter; 
Be so good as to help me and you will much 
oblige me; is there any good Mellons or Peaches 
or any good fruit near you ? . . . Can I get a 
good Turkey; I walk d in Town to-day; I dine 
on board the French Frigate tomorrow; so you 
see how I have Recovered. 

“ God bless you; if you see any thing good at 
Providence do Buy it for me. 

“ I am Your Real friend 

“ John Hancock.” 

However, the visitors came, they saw, — and 
Mrs. Hancock conquered. The crisis which 
she, as a housekeeper, had to face, was no slight 
one either. For when Admiral D’Estaing 
accepted the invitation to breakfast, which 
Hancock sent him, he requested permission to 
bring also all his officers, to the number of three 
hundred! Now to procure in legitimate ways 


338 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

milk enough for such a multitude was impossi¬ 
ble at such short notice, so Mrs. Hancock dis¬ 
patched her servants to the Common with 
directions to milk all the cows grazing there and 
send to her any person who complained. The 
owners were rather amused than offended at 
this masterly stroke of housewifely, and no one 
is known to have protested. It was in describing 
this overwhelming visitation of the French that 
Mrs. Hancock said: “ the Common was be¬ 
dizened with lace,” as the officers made their 
way up Beacon Hill to enjoy her hospitality. 

Nor was this breakfast the Hancocks’ only 
hospitable effort. Each day during the stay 
of the French, they entertained about forty 
officers of the fleet at their home; on October 
29th the patriot gave them a superb ball in 
Concert Hall; and he also defrayed the expense 
of a banquet given in Fanueil Hall to about five 
hundred of them, — though Boston got the 
credit of the affair. There seems little question 
that, of all the services rendered by Hancock 
to his country, this liberal entertainment of the 
French was the most valuable. For whereas 
the relation between America and her allies was 
strained when they came to Boston, his hospi¬ 
tality served to send the visitors away full of 
cordiality. Abigail Adams has an interesting 
letter touching the matter: “ I had only just 
breakfasted this morning,” she wrote to her hus- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 339 


band who was then at Passy and of course 
deeply interested in all that concerned the 
French in Boston, “ when I had a visit from 
Monsieur Riviere, and an officer on board the 
Languedoc who speaks English well, the captain 
of the Zara, and six or eight officers from on 
board another ship. The first gentleman dined 
with me and spent the day. . . . The gentle¬ 
men officers have made me several visits, and 
I have dined twice on board at very elegant 
entertainments. Count D’Estaing has been 
exceedingly polite to me. Soon after he arrived 
here I received a message from him requesting 
that I would meet him at Colonel Quincy’s, as 
it was inconvenient leaving his ship for any 
long time. I waited upon him and was very 
politely received. Upon parting he requested 
that the family would accompany me on board 
his ship and dine with him the next Thursday 
with any friends we chose to bring; and his 
barge should come for us. We went according 
to the invitation, and were sumptuously enter¬ 
tained, with every delicacy that this country 
produces, and the addition of every foreign 
article that could render our feast splendid. 
Music and dancing for the young folks closed 
the day. 

“ The temperance of these gentlemen, the 
peaceable quiet disposition both of officers and 
men, joined to many other virtues which they 


340 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


have exhibited during their continuance with 
us, are sufficient to make Europeans and Ameri¬ 
cans, too, blush at their own degeneracy of 
manners. Not one officer has been seen the 
least disguised with liquor since their arrival. 
Most that I have seen appear to be gentlemen 
of family and education. I have been the more 
desirous to take notice of them, as I cannot 
help saying that they have been neglected in the 
town of Boston. Generals Heath and Hancock 
[Hancock had recently been appointed major- 
general of the Massachusetts Militia] have done 
their part but very few, if any, private families 
have any acquaintance with them. ...” 

Mr. Nathaniel Tracy, who lived at this time 
in what we now know as the Craigie-Longfellow 
house in Cambridge, did, however, entertain 
these officers with attendant circumstances which 
only the great politeness of the French could 
have passed off pleasantly. Samuel Breck tells 
the story in his very entertaining “ Recollec¬ 
tions:” “Before the Revolution the colonists 
had little or no communication with France, 
so that Frenchmen were known to them only 
through the prejudiced medium of England. 
Every vulgar story told by John Bull about 
Frenchmen living only on salad and frogs was 
implicitly believed by Brother Jonathan, even 
by men of education and the first standing in 
society. When therefore the first French squad- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 341 

ron arrived at Boston, the whole town, most of 
whom had never seen a Frenchman, ran to the 
wharf to catch a peep at the gaunt half-starved 
soup-maigre crews. How much were my good 
townsmen astonished when they beheld plump 
portly officers and strong vigorous sailors! They 
could scarcely credit the thing apparent as 
it was. Did these hearty-looking people be¬ 
long to the lantern-jawed spindle shank race 
of mounseers ? In a little while they became 
convinced that they had been deceived as to 
their personal appearance; but they knew, not¬ 
withstanding their good looks, that they were no 
better than frog-eaters, because they had been 
discovered hunting them in the noted Frog-pond 
at the bottom of the Common. 

“ With this notion in his head Mr. Nathaniel 
Tracy, who lived in a beautiful villa at Cam¬ 
bridge, made a great feast for the admiral Count 
D’Estaing and his officers. Everything was 
furnished that could be had in the country to 
ornament and give variety to the entertainment. 
My father was one of the guests and told me 
often after that two large tureens of soup were 
placed at the ends of the table. The admiral 
sat on the right of Tracy, and Monsieur de 
TEtombe on the left. L’Etombe was consul of 
France, resident at Boston. Tracy filled a plate 
with soup which he sent to the admiral, and the 
next was handed to the consul. As soon as 


342 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

L’Etombe put his spoon into his plate he fished 
up a large frog just as green and perfect as if he 
had hopped from the pond into the tureen. 
Not knowing at first what it was, he seized it by 
one of its hind legs, and holding it up in view of 
the whole company, discovered that was a full- 
grown frog. As soon as he had thoroughly 
inspected it and made himself sure of the matter, 
he exclaimed: ‘ Ah mon Dieu! une grenouille ! 9 
then, turning to the gentleman next to him gave 
him the frog. He received it and passed it round 
the table. Thus the poor crapaud made the 
tour from hand to hand until it reached the 
admiral. The company, convulsed with laugh¬ 
ter, examined the soup plates as the servants 
brought them, and in each was to be found a 
frog. The uproar was universal. Meantime 
Tracy kept his ladle going wondering what his 
outlandish guests meant by such extravagant 
merriment. ‘ What’s the matter ? ’ asked he 
and raising his head, surveyed the frogs, dan¬ 
gling by the legs in all directions. ‘ Why don’t 
you eat them ? ’ he exclaimed. ‘ If they knew 
the confounded trouble I had to catch them in 
order to treat them to a dish of their own country 
they would find that, with me at least, it was 
no joking matter.’ Thus was poor Tracy 
deceived by vulgar prejudice and common 
report. He meant to regale his distinguished 
guests with fine hospitality, and had caused all 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 343 


the swamps of Cambridge to be searched, in 
order to furnish them with a generous supply 
of what he believed to be, in France a national 
dish” 

Mr. Breck was agent for the French and is 
the “ Mr. Brick ” whose name occurs so often 
in the Boston part of the Marquis de Chastel- 
lux’s “ Travels in North America.” This 
traveller, who was an officer in the French army, 
appears to have been unremittingly entertained 
while in Boston. Scarcely had he arrived in 
town when he was hurried off to the Association 
ball, where he took notice of the general awk¬ 
wardness of the Boston dancers, and observed 
that the ladies, though well dressed, ap¬ 
peared less elegant and refined than those 
he had met in Philadelphia. Then he went 
to a club meeting at the house of Mr. Russell, 
“ an honest merchant who gave us an excellent 
reception: 

" The laws of this club are not straitening, 
the number of dishes for supper alone are 
limited, and there must be only two of meat, 
for supper is not the American repast. Vege¬ 
tables, pies and especially good wine are not 
spared. The hour of assembling is after tea, 
when the company play at cards, converse and 
read the public papers, and sit down to table 
between nine and ten. The supper was as free 
as if there had been no strangers, songs were 


344 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

given at table and a Mr. Stewart sung some, 
which were very gay with a tolerable good 
voice. 

“ The nineteenth the weather was very bad. 
. . . With Mr. de Vaudreuil I went to dine with 
Mr. Cushing. The Lieutenant Governor on this 
occasion perfectly supported the justly acquired 
reputation of the inhabitants of Boston, of being 
friends to good wine, good cheer and hospitality. 
After dinner he conducted us into the apartment 
of his son and his daughter-in-law, with whom 
we were invited to drink tea. For though they 
inhabited the same house with their father they 
had a separate household, according to the 
custom in America; where it is very rare for 
young people to live with their parents when 
they are once settled in the world. . . . The 
sensible and amiable Mrs. Tudor was once more 
our centre of union. During the evening, which 
terminated in a familiar and very agreeable 
supper at young Mrs. Bowdoin’s, Mr. de Parois 
and Mr. Dumas sung different airs and duets, 
and Mrs. Whitmore undertook the pleasure of 
the eyes, whilst they supplied the gratification 
of our ears. 

“ The 20th was wholly devoted to society. 
Mr. Broom gave me an excellent dinner, the 
honours of which were performed by Mrs. 
Jarvis and her sister, with as much politeness 
and attention as if they had been old and ugly. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 345 

I supped with Mr. Bowdoin where I still found 
more handsome women assembled. If I do 
not place Mrs. Temple, Mr. Bowdoin’s daughter 
in the number, it is not from want of respect, 
but because her figure is so distinguished as to 
make it unnecessary to pronounce her truly 
beautiful; nor did she suffer in the comparison 
with a girl of twelve years old, who was formed 
however to attract attention. This was neither a 
handsome child nor a pretty woman, but rather 
an angel in disguise of a young girl; for I am at 
a loss otherwise to express the idea which young 
persons of that age convey in England and 
America; which is not amongst us the age of 
Beauty and the Graces. 

“ They made me play at whist, for the first 
time since my arrival in America. The cards 
were English, that is much handsomer and 
dearer than ours, and we marked our points 
with Louis d’ors, or six-and-thirties; when the 
party was finished the loss was not difficult to 
settle; for the company was still faithful to that 
voluntary law established in society from the 
commencement of the troubles, which prohibited 
playing for money during the war. This law, 
however, was not scrupulously observed in the 
clubs, and parties made by the men amongst 
themselves. The inhabitants of Boston are fond 
of high play, and it is fortunate, perhaps, that 
the war happened when it did, to moderate this 


346 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

passion which began to be attended with danger¬ 
ous consequences. 

“ On Thursday the 21st there fell so much 
snow as to determine me to defer my departure, 
and Mr. Brick [Breck], who gave a great dinner 
to Mr. d’Aboville and the French artillery officers, 
understanding that I was still at Boston, invited 
me to dine, whither I went in Mr. de Vaudreuil’s 
carriage. Mr. Barrel came also to invite me to 
tea, where we went after dinner; and, as soon 
as we were disengaged hastened to return to 
Mrs. Tudor’s. Her husband, after frequently 
whispering to her, at length communicated to us 
an excellent piece of pleasantry of her invention, 
which was a petition to the Queen, written in 
French, wherein, under the pretext of complain¬ 
ing of Mr. de Vaudreuil and his squadron, she 
bestowed on them the most delicate and most 
charming eulogium. We passed the remainder 
of the evening with Mr. Brick, who had again 
invited us to supper, where we enjoyed all the 
pleasure inseparable from his society. I had a 
great deal of conversation with Doctor Jarvis, 
a young physician, and also a surgeon, but what 
was better a good whig, with excellent views in 
politics. When Mr. D’Estaing left Boston the 
sick and wounded were intrusted to his care.” 
[One of these sick died and was buried, in what 
had so recently been Puritan Boston, — it is 
interesting to note, — with the full rites of the 




SIR JOHN TEMPLE, FIRST BRITISH CONSUL IN BOSTON. LADY TEMPLE (ELIZABETH BOWDOIN). 

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OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 347 


Catholic church, members of the senate and 
assembly, leading citizens of the town “ and 
ministers of every sect of religion in Boston ” 
attending the remains to their place of inter¬ 
ment !] 

An account of Boston which, though not 
always accurate, is none the less interesting, has 
been left us by Abbe Robin, one of the chaplains 
of the French army, who was here in 1781. 
Speaking of the houses he says: “ Their form 
and construction would surprise a European 
eye; they are built in brick and wood, not in 
the clumsy and melancholy taste of our ancient 
European towns, but regularly and well provided 
with windows and doors. . . . These build¬ 
ings are generally painted with a pale white 
color, which renders the prospect much more 
pleasing than it would otherwise be; All the 
parts of these buildings are so well joined and 
their weight is so equally divided and propor¬ 
tionate to their bulk that they may be removed 
from place to place with little difficulty. I have 
seen one of two stories high removed about a 
quarter of a mile, if not more, from its original 
situation and the whole French army have seen 
the same thing done at Newport. What they 
tell us of the travelling habitations of the Sythians 
is far less wonderful. Their household furniture 
is simple but made of choice wood after the 
English fashion, which renders its appearance 


348 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


less gay; their floors are covered with handsome 
carpets or printed clothes, but others sprinkle 
them with fine sand. 

“ This city is supposed to contain about six 
thousand houses and thirty thousand inhabit¬ 
ants [as a matter of fact there were less than 
eighteen thousand inhabitants and only a little 
over two thousand buildings, including dwelling- 
houses, stores, stables and so on]; there are 
nineteen churches for the several sects here, all 
of them convenient and several finished with 
taste and elegance, especially those of the Pres¬ 
byterians and the Church of England; their 
form is generally a long square, ornamented with 
a pulpit, and furnished with pews of a similar 
fabrication throughout. The poor as well as 
the rich hear the word of God in these places 
in a convenient and decent posture of body. 

“ Sunday is observed with the utmost strict¬ 
ness; all business, how important soever, is 
then totally at a stand and the most innocent 
pleasures and recreations prohibited. Boston, 
that populous town, where at other times there 
is such a hurry of business is on this day a mere 
desert; you may walk the streets without meet¬ 
ing a single person or if perchance you meet one, 
you scarcely dare to stop and talk with him. 
A Frenchman that lodged with me took it into 
his head to play on the flute on Sundays for 
his amusement; the people on hearing it were 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 349 

greatly enraged, collected in crowds around the 
house and would have carried matters to an 
extremity in a short time with the musician, 
had not the landlord given him warning of his 
danger and forced him to desist. [Possibly it 
was the nerves and not the piety of the Puri¬ 
tans that this flutist’s performances offended.] 
Upon this day of melancholy you cannot go 
into a house but you find the whole family 
employed in reading the Bible; and indeed it 
is an affecting sight to see the father of a family 
surrounded by his household, hearing him 
explain the sublime truths of this sacred volume. 
Nobody fails here of going to the place of wor¬ 
ship appropriated to his sect. In these places 
there reigns a profound silence; an order and 
respect is also observable which has not been 
seen for a long time in our Catholic churches. 
Their psalmody is grave and majestic; and the 
harmony of the poetry in their national tongue 
adds a grace to the music, and contributes 
greatly towards keeping up the attention of 
the worshippers. . . 

The social side of church-going, quite as much 
as piety, served in the good Abbe’s opinion to 
draw out the people, however. “ Deprived of 
all shows and public diversions church is the 
grand theatre,” he says “ where the American 
ladies attend to display their extravagance and 
finery. There they come dressed in the finest 


350 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

silks, and overshadowed with a profusion of the 
most superb plumes. The hair of the head is 
raised and supported upon cushions to an ex¬ 
travagant height, somewhat resembling the man¬ 
ner in which the French ladies wore their hair 
some years ago. Instead of powdering they 
often wash the hair which answers the purpose 
well enough, as their hair is commonly of an 
agreeable light color; but the more fashionable 
among them begin now to adopt the present 
European method of setting off the head to the 
best advantage. They are of a large size, well 
proportioned, their features generally regular 
and their complexion fair without ruddiness. 
They have less cheerfulness and ease of behavior 
than the ladies of France, but more of greatness 
and dignity. I have even imagined that I have 
seen in them something that answers to the idea 
of beauty we gain from those master-pieces of 
the artists of antiquity, which are yet extant in 
our days. 

“ The stature of the men is tall and their 
carriage erect, but their make is rather slim and 
their color inclining to pale; they are not so 
curious in their dress as the women but every¬ 
thing upon them is neat and proper. At twenty- 
five years of age the women begin to lose the 
bloom and freshness of youth; and at thirty- 
five or forty their beauty is gone. The decay of 
the men is equally premature.” 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 351 

Lafayette came to Boston several times during 
the period we are now considering. After the 
failure of the Rhode Island campaign, in 1778, 
he journeyed hither to use his persuasions with 
the commander of the French fleet not to desert 
the cause. And it was from Boston that he 
embarked in 1781, — just after Yorktown, — 
with dispatches to the French king. On this 
occasion he was enthusiastically received, upon 
his entrance to the town, by a committee of which 
Samuel Adams was chairman. 

Boston was again en fete for Lafayette in 
1784. This time his visit came towards the end 
of that triumphal progress through the country 
in the course of which Mt. Vernon had been 
visited. The officers of the army met him at 
Watertown; then in a procession he made his 
entry over Boston Neck, through throngs of 
people. In the evening the street lanterns were 
lighted for the first time since the peace and on 
the nineteenth, the anniversary of Yorktown, 
Governor Hancock received the distinguished 
visitor formally. At Faneuil Hall he was the 
honored guest of five hundred gentlemen at 
dinner. “ Thirteen decorated arches surrounded 
the room and Lafayette sat under a huge fleur- 
de lis. Thirteen guns in the market-place 
accompanied as many patriotic toasts. When 
one proposing the health of Washington was 
drunk, a curtain fell and disclosed a picture of 


352 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


the General crowned with laurel, and wearing 
the color of America and France. Lafayette 
led off the response with ‘ Vive Washington ! 9 
In the evening Madam Haley, a sister of the 
notorious John Wilkes and a leader of fashion 
in the town gave a great party, and there were 
many illuminations throughout the streets.” 

It was during this visit of Lafayette that the 
great Frenchman was regaled with the spectacle 
of democracy at work. The Breck family had 
shown him many attentions and “ one day,” 
says Samuel Breck, “ my father invited him to 
go to Faneuil Hall to hear the discussion of 
some municipal law then in agitation. ‘ You 
will see,’ said he, ‘ the quiet proceedings of our 
townsmen and learn by personal examination 
how erroneous is the general opinion abroad that 
a large community cannot be governed by pure 
democracy. Here we have in Boston, 9 con¬ 
tinued he, ‘ about eighteen thousand inhabitants, 
and all our town business is done in a general 
assembly of the people.’ 

“ The Marquis, glad of the opportunity, 
consented to attend my father. By and by the 
great bell of the celebrated Dr. Samuel Cooper’s 
church, with a dozen others, called the inhabit¬ 
ants together. I forget what the business was 
but it inspired universal interest, and drew to 
the hall an overflowing house. The Marquis 
was of course well accommodated, and sat in 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 353 

silent admiration at the demure manner in which 
the moderator was chosen and inducted to the 
chair and the meeting fully organized. 

“ Then the debate opened. One speaker 
affirmed, another denied, a third rejoined; each 
increasing in vehemence until the matter in 
debate was changed into personal sarcasm. 
Gibe followed gibe, commotion ensued, the 
popular mass rolled to and fro, disorder reached 
its height, and the elders of the town were glad 
to break up the stormy meeting and postpone 
the discussion. My father led the Marquis out 
in the midst of the angry multitude. When 
fairly disengaged from the crowd he said to the 
illustrious stranger: ‘ This is not the sample 
which I wished to show you of our mode of 
deliberating. Never do I recollect to have seen 
such fiery spirits assembled in this hall, and I 
must beg you not to judge of us by what you have 
seen today; for good sense moderation and per¬ 
fect order are the usual characteristics of my 
fellow-townsmen here and elsewhere.’ ‘ No 
doubt, no doubt;’ said the Marquis laughing; 
‘but it is well enough to know that there are 
exceptions to the general rule.’ ” 

Just after Massachusetts had ratified the new 
Constitution another French visitor came to 
Boston, — Jean Pierre Brissot De Warville, 
born near Chartres in 1754, educated for the 
Jaw and an eager student of history and politics. 


354 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Brissot, while very young, had earned a literary 
reputation in his native land; then he spent 
much time in England and gained, in London, 
valuable journalistic experience. Becoming a 
republican, he took an important part in the 
early movements of the French Revolution, and 
it was to study our social and political conditions, 
in order more intelligently to commend America’s 
republican experiment to the French people, that 
he came over here in 1788. 

Boston is the first place which he describes in 
his “ New Travels in the United States of 
America,” a work published in Paris in 1791, 
brought out in an English edition at London in 
1792, and in an American edition at Boston in 
1797. Of all the Frenchmen who wrote about 
our city his descriptions are at once the most 
lively and the most accurate. To be sure, the 
style is frequently a bit florid and the enthusi¬ 
astic tone seems slightly overdone. But, for all 
that, the pictures are clear and interesting ones, 
which we should be very sorry to be without. 

“ With what joy,” he begins under the date 
“ Boston, July 30, 1788,” “ did I leap to this 
shore of liberty! I was weary of the sea; and 
the sight of trees, of towns, and even of men, 
gives a delicious refreshment to eyes fatigued 
with the desert of the ocean. I flew from despot¬ 
ism, and came at last to enjoy the spectacle of 
liberty among a people where nature, education. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 355 

and habit had engraved the equality of rights, 
which everywhere else is treated as a chimera. 
With what pleasure did I contemplate this town, 
which first shook off the English yoke! which, 
for a long time, resisted all the seductions, all 
the menaces, all the horrors of a civil war! How 
I delighted to wander up and down that long 
street whose simple houses of wood border the 
magnificent channel of Boston, and whose full 
stores offer me all the productions of the continent 
which I had quitted! How I enjoyed the activity 
of the merchants, the artisans, and the sailors! 
It was not the noisy vortex of Paris; it was not 
the unquiet, eager mien of my countrymen; it 
was the simple, dignified air of men who are 
conscious of liberty, and who see in all men their 
brothers and their equals. Everything in this 
street bears the marks of a town still in its 
infancy, but which, even in its infancy, enjoys a 
great prosperity. . . . Boston is just rising from 
the devastations of war, and its commerce is 
flourishing; its manufactures, productions, arts, 
and sciences offer a number of curious and inter¬ 
esting observations. . . . 

“You no longer meet here that Presbyterian 
austerity which interdicted all pleasures, even 
that of walking; which forbade travelling on 
Sunday; which persecuted men whose opinions 
were different from their own. The Bostonians 
unite simplicity of morals with that French 


356 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


politeness and delicacy of manners which render 
virtue more amiable. They are hospitable to 
strangers, and obliging to friends. They are 
tender husbands, fond and almost idolatrous 
parents, and kind masters. Music, which their 
teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolic art, 
begins to make part of their education. In some 
houses you hear the forte-piano. This art, it 
is true, is still in its infancy; but the young 
novices who exercise it are so gentle, so com¬ 
plaisant and so modest, that the proud perfection 
of art gives no pleasure equal to what they afford. 
God grant that the Bostonian women may never, 
like those of France, acquire the malady of 
perfection in this art! It is never attained but 
at the expense of the domestic virtues. 

“ The young women here enjoy the liberty 
they do in England, that they did in Geneva 
when morals were there, and the republic existed; 
and they do not abuse it. Their frank and tender 
hearts have nothing to fear from the perfidy of 
men. Examples of this perfidy are rare; the 
vows of love are believed; and love always 
respects them, or shame follows the guilty. 

“ The Bostonian mothers are reserved. Their 
air is, however, frank, good and communicative. 
Entirely devoted to their families, they are 
occupied in rendering their husbands happy, 
and in training their children to virtue. 

“ The law denounces heavy penalties against 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 357 

adultery, such as the pillory and imprisonment. 
This law has scarcely ever been called into 
execution. It is because families are happy; 
and they are pure because they are happy. 

“ Neatness without luxury is a characteristic 
feature of this purity of manners; and this 
neatness is seen everywhere at Boston, in their 
dress, in their houses, and in their churches. 
Nothing is more charming than an inside view 
of a church on Sunday. The good cloth coat 
covers the man; calicoes and chintzes dress the 
women and children, without being spoiled by 
those gewgaws which whim and caprice have 
added to them among our women. [This 
verdict differs interestingly from that of Abbe 
Robin!] Powder and pomatum never sully 
the heads of infants and children: I see them 
with pain, however, on the heads of men: they 
invoke the art of the hair-dresser; for, unhappily, 
this art has already crossed the seas. 

“ I shall never call to mind, without emotion, 
the pleasure I had one day in hearing the respec¬ 
table Mr. Clarke, successor to the learned Dr. 
Chauncey, the friend of mankind. His church 
is in close union with that of Dr. Cooper, [Rev. 
Samuel Cooper, D. D., Hancock’s pastor and 
the minister of the Brattle Square Meeting-House 
(Manifesto church) built in 1772 and used as 
barracks during the Revolution] to whom every 
good Frenchman, and every friend of liberty, 


358 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

owes a tribute of gratitude for the love he bore 
the French, and the zeal with which he defended 
and preached the American independence. I 
remarked in this auditory the exterior of that 
ease and contentment of which I have spoken; 
that collected calmness, resulting from the habit 
of gravity, and the conscious presence of the 
Almighty; that religious decency which is 
equally distant from grovelling idolatry, and 
from the light and wanton airs of those Europeans 
who go to a church as to a theatre. 

w Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ips®. 


“ But, to crown my happiness, I saw none of 
those livid wretches, covered with rags, who in 
Europe, soliciting our compassion at the foot 
of the altar, seem to bear testimony against 
Providence, our humanity, and the order of 
society. The discourse, the prayer, the worship, 
everything, bore the same simplicity. The 
sermon breathed the best morality, and it was 
heard with attention. 

“ The excellence of this morality characterizes 
almost all the sermons of all the sects through 
the Continent. The ministers rarely speak 
dogmas: universal tolerance, the child of Ameri¬ 
can independence, has banished the preaching 
of dogmas, which always leads to discussion and 
quarrels. All the sects admit nothing but 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 359 

morality, which is the same in all, and the 
only preaching proper for a great society of 
brothers. 

“ This tolerance is unlimited at Boston, a 
town formerly witness of bloody persecutions, 
especially against the Quakers, where many of 
this sect paid with their life for their persever¬ 
ance in their religious opinions. Just Heaven! 
how is it possible there can exist men believing 
sincerely in God, and yet barbarous enough to 
inflict death on a woman, the intrepid Dyer, 
because she thee 'd and thou 'd men, because she 
did not believe in the divine mission of priests, 
because she would follow the Gospel literally ? 
But let us draw the curtain over these scenes 
of horror; they will never again sully this new 
continent, destined by Heaven to be the asylum 
of liberty and humanity. Every one at present 
worships God in his own way, at Boston. Ana¬ 
baptists, Methodists, Quakers, and Catholics 
profess openly their opinions; and all offices of 
government, places, and emoluments are equally 
open to all sects. Virtue and talents, and not 
religious opinions, are the tests of public con¬ 
fidence. 

“ The ministers of different sects live in such 
harmony that they supply each other’s places 
when any one is detained from his pulpit. 

“ On seeing men think so differently on matters 
of religion, and yet possess such virtues, it may 


360 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

be concluded that one may be very honest, and 
believe, or not believe, in transubstantiation, 
and the word. They have concluded that it is 
best to tolerate each other, and that this is the 
worship most agreeable to God. 

“ Before this opinion was so general among 
them they had established another: it was the 
necessity of reducing divine worship to the 
greatest simplicity, to disconnect it from all its 
superstitious ceremonies, which gave it the 
appearance of idolatry; and, particularly, not 
to give their priests enormous salaries, to enable 
them to live in luxury and idleness; in a word, 
to restore the evangelical simplicity. They 
have succeeded. In the country, the church 
has a glebe; in town, the ministers live on col¬ 
lections made each Sunday in the church, and 
the rents of pews. It is an excellent practice to 
induce the ministers to be diligent in their studies, 
and faithful in their duty; for the preference is 
given to him whose discourses please the most, 
and his salary is the most considerable; while, 
among us, the ignorant and the learned, the 
debauchee and the man of virtue, are always 
sure of their livings. It results, likewise, from 
this that a mode of worship will not be imposed 
on those who do not believe in it. Is it not a 
tyranny to force men to pay for the support of 
a system which they abhor ? 

“ The Bostonians are become so philosophical 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 361 

on the subject of religion that they have lately 
ordained a man who was refused by the bishop. 
The sect to which he belongs have installed him 
in their church, and given him the power to 
preach and to teach; and he preaches, and he 
teaches, and discovers good abilities; for the 
people rarely deceive themselves in their choice. 
This economical institution, which has no ex¬ 
ample but in the primitive church, has been 
censured by those who believe still in the tradi¬ 
tion of orders by the direct descendants of the 
Apostles. But the Bostonians are so near 
believing that every man may be his own 
preacher that the apostolic doctrine has not 
found very warm advocates. . . . [The clergy¬ 
man here referred to was Dr. James Freeman, 
first minister of King’s Chapel during the 
Unitarian regime. Under his direction the 
liturgy was revised to conform to the new creed 
of the society. Dr. Freeman was ordained in 
1787 and thereupon the connection of this 
church with the American Protestant Episcopal 
church was terminated. Rev. James Freeman, 
Clarke, D.D., was Dr. Freeman’s grandson.] 

“ Since the ancient puritan austerity has dis¬ 
appeared, you are no longer surprised to see a 
game of cards introduced among these good 
Presbyterians. When the mind is tranquil, in 
the enjoyment of competence and peace, it is 
natural to occupy it in this way, especially in a 


362 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

country where there is no theatre, where men 
make it not a business to pay court to the 
women, where they read few books, and culti¬ 
vate still less the sciences. This taste for cards 
is certainly unhappy in a republican state. The 
habit of them contracts the mind, prevents the 
acquisition of useful knowledge, leads to idleness 
and dissipation, and gives birth to every malig¬ 
nant passion. Happily, it is not very considerable 
in Boston: you see here no fathers of families 
risking their whole fortunes in it. 

“ There are many clubs at Boston. M. 
Chastellux speaks of a particular club held once 
a week. I was at it several times, and was much 
pleased with their politeness to strangers, and 
the knowledge displayed in their conversation. 
There is no coffee-house at Boston, New York, 
or Philadelphia. One house in each town, that 
they call by that name, serves as an exchange. 

“ One of the principal pleasures of the inhab¬ 
itants of these towns consist in little parties for 
the country among families and friends. The 
principal expense of the parties, especially after 
dinner, is tea. In this, as in their whole manner 
of living, the Americans in general resemble the 
English. Punch, warm and cold, before dinner; 
excellent beef, and Spanish and Bordeaux wines, 
cover their tables, always solidly and abundantly 
served. Spruce beer, excellent cider, and Phila¬ 
delphia porter precede the wines. This porter 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 363 

is equal to the English: the manufacture of it 
saves a vast tribute formerly paid to the English 
industry. The same may soon be said with 
respect to cheese. I have often found American 
cheese equal to the best Cheshire of England, 
or the Rocfort of France. This may with truth 
be said of that made on a farm on Elizabeth 
Island, belonging to the respectable Governor 
Bowdoin. 

u After forcing the English to give up their 
domination, the Americans determined to rival 
them in everything useful. This spirit of emula¬ 
tion shows itself everywhere; it has erected at 
Boston an extensive glass manufactory, belong¬ 
ing to M. Breck and others. 

“ This spirit of emulation has opened to the 
Bostonians so many channels of commerce, which 
lead them to all parts of the globe. 


“ Nil mortalibus arduum est; 
Audax Japeti genus. 


If these lines could ever apply to any people, it 
is to the free Americans. No danger, no dis¬ 
tance, no obstacle, impedes them. What have 
they to fear? All mankind are their brethren: 
they wish peace with all. 

“ It is this spirit of emulation which multiplies 
and brings to perfection so many manufactories 
of cordage in this town; which has erected 


364 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


filatures of hemp and flax, proper to occupy 
young people, without subjecting them to be 
crowded together in such numbers as to ruin 
their health and their morals; proper, likewise, 
to occupy that class of women whom the long 
voyages of their seafaring husbands and other 
accidents reduce to inoccupation. 

“ To this spirit of emulation are owing the 
manufactories of salt, nails, paper and paper- 
hangings, which are multiplied in this state. 
The rum distilleries are on the decline since the 
suppression of the slave trade, in which this 
liquor was employed, and since the diminution 
of the use of strong spirits by the country people. 

“ This is fortunate for the human race; and 
the American industry will soon repair the small 
loss it sustains from the decline of this fabrication 
of poisons. 

“ Massachusetts wishes to rival, in manu¬ 
factures, Connecticut and Pennsylvania; she 
has, like the last, a society formed for the en¬ 
couragement of manufactures and industry. 

“ The greatest monuments of the industry 
of this state are the three bridges of Charles, 
Malden, and Essex. 

“ Boston has the glory of having given the first 
college or university to the new world. It is 
placed on an extensive plain, four miles from 
Boston, at a place called Cambridge; the origin 
of this useful institution was in 1636. The 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 365 

imagination could not fix on a place that could 
better unite all the conditions essential to a seat 
of education; sufficiently near to Boston to 
enjoy all the advantages of a communication 
with Europe and the rest of the world, and suffi¬ 
ciently distant not to expose the students to the 



A WESTERLY VIEW OF THE COLLEGES IN CAMBRIDGE, NEW ENGLAND 
From, an old print 


contagion of licentious manners common in 
commercial towns. 

“ The air of Cambridge is pure, and the en¬ 
vironments charming, offering a vast space for 
the exercise of the youth. 

“The buildings are large, numerous, and well 
distributed. But, as the number of the students 
augments every day, it will be necessary soon to 
augment the buildings. The library, and the 
cabinet of philosophy, do honor to the institution. 
The first contains 13,000 volumes. The heart 





366 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

of a Frenchman palpitates on finding the works 
of Racine, of Montesquieu, and the Encyclo¬ 
paedia where 150 years ago, arose the smoke of 
the savage calumet. 

“ The regulation of the course of studies here 
is nearly the same as that at the university of 
Oxford. I think it impossible but that the last 
revolution must introduce a great reform. Free 
men ought to strip themselves of their prejudices, 
and to perceive that, above all, it is necessary to 
be a man and a citizen; and that the study of 
the dead languages, of a fastidious philosophy 
and theology, ought to occupy few of the mo¬ 
ments of a life which might be usefully employed 
in studies more advantageous to the great 
family of a human race. 

“ Such a change in the studies is more prob¬ 
able, as an academy is formed at Boston [Ameri¬ 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences founded in 
1780.] composed of respectable men, who culti¬ 
vate all the sciences; and who, disengaged from 
religious prejudices, will doubtless very soon 
point out a course of education more short, and 
more sure in forming good citizens and philoso¬ 
phers. 

“ Mr. Bowdoin, president of this academy, is 
a man of universal talents. He unites with his 
profound erudition the virtues of a magistrate 
and the principles of a republican politician. His 
conduct has never disappointed the confidence 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 3G7 

of his fellow-citizens; though his son-in-law, Mr, 
Temple, has incurred their universal detestation 
for the versatility of his conduct during the war, 
and his open attachment to the British since the 
peace. To recompense him for this, the English 
have given him the consulate-general of America. 

“ But to return to the university of Cambridge, 
superintended by the respectable President Wil¬ 
lard. Among the associates in the direction of 
studies are distinguished Dr. Wigglesworth and 
Dr. Dexter. The latter is professor of natural 
philosophy, chemistry, and medicine; a man of 
extensive knowledge, and great modesty. He 
told me, to my great satisfaction, that he gave 
lectures on the experiments of our school of 
chemistry. The excellent work of my respec¬ 
table master, Dr. Fourcroy, was in his hands, 
which taught him the rapid strides that this 
science has lately made in Europe. 

“ In a free country everything ought to bear 
the stamp of patriotism. This patriotism, so 
happily displayed in the foundation, endowment, 
and encouragement of this university, appears 
every year in a solemn feast celebrated at Cam¬ 
bridge in honor of the Sciences. This feast, 
which takes place once a year in all the colleges 
of America, is called the commencement; it re¬ 
sembles the exercises and distribution of prizes 
in our colleges. It is a day of joy for Boston; 
almost all its inhabitants assemble in Cambridge. 


368 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

The most distinguished of the students display 
their talents in the presence of the public; and 
these exercises, which are generally on patriotic 
subjects, are terminated by a feast, where reign 
the freest gayety and the most cordial fraternity. 

“ It is remarked, that in countries chiefly 
devoted to commerce the sciences are not carried 
to any high degree. This remark applies to 
Boston. The university certainly contains men 
of worth and learning; but science is not diffused 
among the inhabitants of the town. Commerce 
occupies all their ideas, turns all their heads, and 
absorbs all their speculations. Thus you find 
few estimable works, and few authors. . . . 

“ Let us not blame the Bostonians; they 
think of the useful before procuring to themselves 
the agreeable. They have no brilliant monu¬ 
ments; but they have neat and commodious 
churches, but they have good houses, but they 
have superb bridges, and excellent ships. Their 
streets are well illuminated at night; while many 
ancient cities of Europe, containing proud 
monuments of art, have never yet thought of 
preventing the fatal effects of nocturnal dark¬ 
ness. 

“ Besides the societies for the encouragement 
of agriculture and manufactures, they have 
another, known by the name of the Humane 
Society. Their object is to recover drowned 
persons. It is formed after the model of the one 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 369 

at London, as that is copied from the one at 
Paris. They follow the same methods as in 
Europe, and have rendered important succors. 

“ The Medical Society is not less useful than 
the one last mentioned. It holds a correspond¬ 
ence with all the country towns; to know the 
symptoms of local diseases, propose the proper 
remedies, and give instruction thereupon to 
their fellow-citizens. 

“ Another establishment is the almshouse. 
It is destined to the poor who, by age and infir¬ 
mity, are unable to gain their living. It contains 
at present about 150 persons. 

“ Another, called the workhouse, or house of 
correction, is not so much peopled as you might 
imagine. In a rising country, in an active port, 
where provisions are cheap, good morals pre¬ 
dominate, and the number of thieves and vaga¬ 
bonds is small. These are vermin attached to 
misery; and there is no miseiy here. [The 
almshouse and the workhouse stood, side by 
side, on what is now Park Street.] 

“ An employment which is, unhappily, one 
of the most lucrative in this state, is the profes¬ 
sion of the law. They preserve still the expen¬ 
sive forms of the English practice, which good 
sense, and the love of order, ought to teach them 
to suppress; they render advocates necessary; 
they have likewise borrowed from their fathers, 
the English, the habit of demanding exorbitant 


370 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

fees. But, notwithstanding the abuses of law 
proceedings, they complain very little of the 
lawyers. Those with whom I have been ac¬ 
quainted appear to enjoy a great reputation for 
integrity, such as Sumner, Wendell, Lowell, 
Sullivan. ... It is in part to their enlightened 
philanthropy that is to be attributed the law of 
the 26th of March, 1788, which condemns to 
heavy penalties all persons who shall import or 
export slaves, or be concerned in this infamous 
traffic. 

“ Finally, they have had a great part in the 
Revolution, by their writings, by their discourses, 
by taking the lead in the affairs of Congress, and 
in foreign negotiations. 

“To recall this memorable period is to bring 
to mind one of the greatest ornaments of the 
American bar, the celebrated Adams, who from 
the humble station of a schoolmaster has raised 
himself to the first dignities, whose name is as 
much respected in Europe as in his own country 
for the difficult embassies with which he has 
been charged. He has finally returned to his 
retreat, in the midst of the applauses of his 
fellow-citizens, occupied in the cultivation of 
his farm, and forgetting what he was when he 
trampled on the pride of his king, who had put 
a price upon his head, and who was forced to 
receive him as the ambassador of a free county. 
Such were the generals and ambassadors of the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 371 

best ages of Rome and Greece; such were 
Epaminondas, Cincinnatus, and Fabius. 

“ It is not possible to see Mr. Adams, who 
knows so well the American constitutions, with¬ 
out speaking to him of that which appears to 
be taking place in France. I don’t know whether 
he has an ill-opinion of our character, of our 
constancy, or of our understanding; but he 
does not believe that we can establish a liberty 
even equal to what the English enjoy; he does 
not believe even that we have the right, like the 
ancient States-General, to require that no tax 
should be imposed without the consent of the 
people. I had no difficulty in combating him, 
even by authorities, independent of the social 
compact, against which no time, no concessions, 
can prescribe. 

“ Mr. Adams is not the only man distinguished 
in this great revolution who has retired to the 
obscure labors of a country life. General Heath 
is one of those worthy imitators of the Roman 
Cincinnatus, for he likes not the American 
Cincinnati; their eagle appears to him a gew¬ 
gaw, proper only for children. On showing me 
a letter from the immortal Washington, whom 
he loves as a father, and reveres as an angel, this 
letter, says he, is a jewel which, in my eyes, 
surpasses all the eagles and all the ribbons in the 
world. It was a letter in which that general had 
felicitated him for his good conduct on a certain 


372 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

occasion. With what joy did this respectable 
man show me all parts of his farm! [His estate 
lay in Roxbury, at the foot of Parker Hill and is 
now bisected by Heath Street.] What happiness 
he enjoys on it! He is a true farmer. A glass 
of cider, which he presented to me with frankness 
and good humor painted on his countenance, 
appeared to me superior to the most exquisite 
wines. With this simplicity, men are worthy of 
liberty, and they are sure of enjoying it for a 
long time. 

“ This simplicity characterizes almost all the 
men of this state who have acted distinguished 
parts in the revolution: such, among others, as 
Samuel Adams, and Mr. Hancock, the present 
governor. If ever a man was sincerely an idolater 
of republicanism, it is Samuel Adams; and never 
a man united more virtues to give respect to his 
opinions. He has the excess of republican 
virtues, untainted probity, simplicity, modesty, 
and, above all, firmness: he will have no capitu¬ 
lation with abuses; he fears as much the despot¬ 
ism of virtue and talents as the despotism of vice. 
Cherishing the greatest love and respect for 
Washington, he voted to take from him the 
command at the end of a certain term; he 
recollected that Caesar could not have succeeded 
in overturning the republic but by prolonging 
the command of the army. The event has proved 
that the application was false; but it was by 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 373 

a miracle, and the safety of a country should 
never be risked on the faith of a miracle. 

“ Samuel Adams is the best supporter of the 
party of Governor Hancock. You know the 
great sacrifices which the latter made in the 
revolution, and the boldness with which he 
declared himself at the beginning of the insurrec¬ 
tion. The same spirit of patriotism animates 
him still. A great generosity, united to a vast 
ambition, forms his character: he has the virtues 
and the address of popularism; that is to say, 
that without effort he shews himself the equal 
and the friend of all. I supped at his house with 
a hatter, who appeared to be in great familiarity 
with him. Mr. Hancock is amiable and polite 
when he wishes to be; but they say he does not 
always choose it. He has a marvellous gout, 
which dispenses him from all attentions, and 
forbids the access to his house. If I were to 
paint to you all the estimable characters which 
I found in this charming town, my portraits 
would never be finished. I found everywhere 
that hospitality, that affability, that friendship 
for the French which M. Chastellux has so much 
exalted.” 

“ The parts adjacent to Boston are charming 
and well cultivated, adorned with elegant houses 
and agreeable situations. Among the surround¬ 
ing eminences you distinguish Bunker Hill. 
This name will recall to your mind the famous 


374 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Warren, one of the first martyrs of American 
liberty. I owed an homage to his generous 
manes; and I was eager to pay it. You arrive 
at Bunker Hill by the superb bridge at 
Charlestown, of which I have spoken. . . . 
This hill offers one of the most astonishing 
monuments of American valor; it is impossi¬ 
ble to conceive how seven or eight hundred 
men, badly armed, and fatigued, having just 
constructed, in haste, a few miserable in- 
trenchments, and who knew nothing, or very 
little, of the use of arms, could resist, for so long 
a time, the attack of thousands of the English 
troops, fresh, well-disciplined, succeeding each 
other in the attack. But such was the vigorous 
resistance of the Americans that the English 
lost 1200 men, killed and wounded, before they 
became master of the place. ...” 

Later in his journey Brissot met Madison 
Hamilton and Jay in New York and spent three 
days at Mt. Vernon with Washington, to whom 
Lafayette had given him an introduction. Bris- 
sot’s writings and the description of him which 
has come down to us, as “ a brisk little French¬ 
man disposed to see all that was good in 
America,” make it sad to record that he met 
his death on the guillotine, in 1793, with twenty 
other Girondists. 

Two other famous French visitors to Boston 
during the period covered by this book were the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 375 

Due de Chartres, afterwards Louis Philippe, 
king of France, and Talleyrand. The former 
taught the French language in the apartments 
of James Amblaud, a tailor, — who then lived 
at the corner of Hanover and Marshall streets, — 
to tide him over a period when expected remit¬ 
tances from his mother failed to arrive. 

Talleyrand was in Boston in July and August, 
1794, and is generally believed to have made his 
headquarters at the old Hancock Tavern, which 
until sixteen years ago, stood in Corn Court. As 
a young man the diplomat had been hand¬ 
some but William Sullivan describes him at this 
period, — he was now forty — as of about 
middle stature with light hair, sallow complexion, 
blue eyes and a mouth wide and far from hand¬ 
some; his “body large and protuberant in front, 
his lower limbs small and his feet deformed.” 
Clearly not a hero of romance. And yet 
there is connected with his stay at the Hancock 
Tavern as romantic and tragic a story as can be 
found in any work of fiction. In the possession 
of the landlord at Corn Court, — runs the 
tale, — there was a penknife of exquisite work¬ 
manship to which Talleyrand took such a fancy 
that, upon his departure, it was given to him by 
his host. Not long after leaving America, he 
went to Homburg and there became enamored 
of a woman of noble birth known to the world 
as Cordelia. She, too, admired the penknife 


376 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

and, to give her pleasure, her lover presented 
it to her. After he had deserted her she was 
found dead on the floor of her apartment stabbed 



HANCOCK TAVERN, WHERE TALLEYRAND STAYED WHILE IN BOSTON 


through the heart with the penknife that had 
come from Boston. Nearby was a note addressed 
to Talleyrand. It read in part: “ I have 















































OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 377 

burned all your letters. They do no honor to 
my memory nor to your heart. You are the 
author of my death; may God forgive you as I 
do. ,, 

Just how the wily diplomat put in the long 
summer days of his stay in Boston I do not 
know. But one trip he made regularly, — to the 
office of the Massachusetts Centinal and Republic , 
where was kept on file copies of the Moniteur. 
He was entertained, too, at the Craigie House 
in Cambridge, the talented mistress of which 
piqued her unpolished husband by talking to 
their guest in his native tongue. Very likely 
the two greatly enjoyed each other, for Mrs. 
Craigie was young, beautiful and of remarkable 
mental powers. French literature was her 
delight; so great was her admiration for Voltaire 
that she arranged that on her curious monument 
at Mt. Auburn — she died in 1841 — should 
be no name, only these lines from the work of 
the famous atheist: “ As flame ascends, the 
vital principle ascends to God.” She would 
never allow the canker-worms on her beautiful 
place in Cambridge to be molested, saying: 
“Do not injure them; they are our fellow- 
worms.” Small wonder that honest Andrew 
Craigie, who had made a fortune as apothecary- 
general during the Revolution (and had undoubt¬ 
edly been married for that fortune by this clever 
girl, who was only half his age), did not enjoy 


378 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

hearing such a wife converse with Talleyrand 
about he knew not what. For Gilbert Stuart, 
a great physiognomist, had just said of the 
Frenchman, who had been visiting his studio: 
“ If that man is not a villain, the Almighty does 



CRAIGIE HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE 


not write a legible hand.” Events proved that 
Talleyrand’s evil face did not belie his character. 

Sullivan, whose description of the wily diplo¬ 
mat’s personal appearance has been quoted, 
tells us that whether the great man could speak 
English or not when in Boston he declined to 
do so. He adds that the “ expression of Talley¬ 
rand’s face was tranquil and his manner that 









OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 379 

of a cool observer.” Of wliat he observed, 
however, little is known. For the only book that 
he published on America had to do with our 
commercial relations to England! Very spicy, 
no doubt, would be his “ Intimate Memoirs ” 
had he chosen to write such. Once, when an 
American lady who had met him at a ball here 
recalled to him, in France, the occasion of their 
first encounter, he shrugged his great shoulders 
and said that he remembered it perfectly, adding 
that though America was a great nation “ leur 
luxe est affreux 99 

Prince Jerome Bonaparte was in Boston in 
1804, apparently just after his marriage to the 
beautiful Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore (they 
were married by Archbishop Carroll, December 
24, 1803) and was entertained at dinner. After¬ 
wards an amusing incident occurred. The 
story is told by John Ward Dean in his memoir 
of Daniel Messinger: “ After dinner Col. Mes- 
singer sang the favorite old song of ‘ To-morrow/ 
As the audience joined in the chorus ‘ To¬ 
morrow, to-morrow/ a cloud came over the 
countenance of the Prince, and, taking his next 
neighbor by the arm, he exclaimed: ‘ To Moreau! 
To Moreau! Is it a song in honor of General 
Moreau ? 9 He was quickly undeceived, and 
smiled when he found that no one but himself 
was thinking of the great rival of his brother.” 


CHAPTER XV 


TWO HEROES OF PEACE 

U NDER this head I want to trace the 
picturesque career of Major Samuel Shaw, 
who was America’s first consul as well as 
a pioneer in trade with China, and of Frederic 
Tudor, of Boston, who first introduced ice into 
the tropics. Both were men of the best Boston 
type, and both are to-day honored by connections 
worthy in every sense of their fine ancestry. 

Major Samuel Shaw was a native of the old 
North End, an officer of the Revolution and aid- 
de-camp of General Knox. He was the son of 
Francis Shaw, a merchant. Many of the now 
numerous family of that name trace their ancestry 
to Francis Shaw, through the brothers of the 
first American consul, for Major Shaw had no 
children. 

Canton, China, was the post to which our 
first consul was sent out. Major Shaw’s appoint¬ 
ment was made by Congress on the first day of 
January, 1786. He was reappointed by Wash¬ 
ington in 1792. Quaint and striking are the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 381 


details of how he travelled to his post in a slow- 
going merchant ship, and was nearly six months 
at sea. Details of this voyage and of others 
taken by him, to the far east, are contained in 
his journal, which, with a memoir by Josiah 
Quincy, was published in Boston in 1847. 

The war had left him, as it did most of the 
patriot officers, poor in purse, and it was under 
the necessity of starting in business, that Major 
Shaw turned his attention to China as a promis¬ 
ing field for American enterprise. He made a 
voyage thither in 1784 in a ship belonging to 
Robert Morris of Philadelphia, called the Em¬ 
press of China. She was only three hundred and 
sixty tons, but was accounted a large ship in 
those days, and carried a crew of forty-three 
men and a good armament of guns and light 
arms, for freebooters were still met on the high 
seas, and the pirates of Algeria scoured the 
Atlantic in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands, 
by way of which most ships passed to the Cape 
of Good Hope. 

The Empress of China was the first American 
ship to carry the flag to China, and Major Shaw, 
as her supercargo, deemed some government 
credentials necessary. He, therefore, applied 
to Congress, then sitting at Annapolis, for a “ sea 
letter/’ which was granted. This document is 
a curiosity in these days. It ran as follows: 

“ Most serene, serene, most puissant, puissant, 


382 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

high, illustrious, noble, honorable, venerable, 
wise and prudent emperors, kings, republics, 
princes, dukes, earls, barons, lords, burgo¬ 
masters, counselors, as also judges, officers, 
justiciaries and regents of all the good cities 
and places, whether ecclesiastical or secular, 
who shall see these presents or hear them read: 
We, the United States, in congress assembled — 
make known — that John Green, captain of 
the ship called the Empress of China, is a citizen 
of the United States of America, and that the 
ship which he commands belongs to citizens of 
the said United States, and as we wish to see 
the said John Green prosper in his lawful affairs, 
our prayer is to all the before mentioned, and to 
each of them separately, when the said John 
shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they 
may please to receive him with goodness and 
treat him in a becoming manner, permitting him 
upon the usual tolls and expenses in passing and 
repassing, to pass, navigate and frequent the 
ports where and in what manner he shall judge 
proper. 

“ Whereof we shall be willingly indebted.” 

The Empress carried out a cargo of fine ship 
timber, rum and ginseng, a vegetable root much 
prized by the Chinese for medicine. She had 
an uneventful voyage out, and returned the fol¬ 
lowing May to New York laden with tea and 
silk. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 383 

On his return her enterprising young super¬ 
cargo addressed a letter to Congress, telling it 
all about the state of trade in the east, and the 
reception accorded him and the flag by the vari¬ 
ous representatives of European nations he had 
met and by the Chinese. 

Congress read the letter, and directed the 
secretary of state to reply to Major Shaw “ that 
congress feels a peculiar satisfaction in the suc¬ 
cessful issue of the first effort of the citizens of 
America to establish a direct trade with China, 
which does so much honor to its undertakers 
and conductors.” 

Shortly after his return, Major Shaw was 
appointed a secretary in the war department, 
under General Knox, but after a few months, 
projecting another voyage to China, he resigned 
this position and engaged to go out as supercargo 
on the ship Hope, with merchandise for the 
Dutch settlement at Batavia, Java, and for 
Canton. 

American trade having begun in the east, it 
was deemed expedient to have the country 
represented there by a consul, and Major Shaw 
was accordingly appointed “ with neither salary, 
fees nor perquisites.” 

The Hope, carrying the new consul as one of 
her company, left New York Feb. 4, 1786. 
Everything went well until the last of 
the month, when a peculiar accident occurred, 


384 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

which is thus described in Major Shaw’s 
journal: 

“ While at dinner we were alarmed by a cry 
of fire. And in a few moments saw the main 
topmast all in a blaze. 

“ The ship was immediately brought to, and, 
notwithstanding every endeavor to extinguish 
the fire, it raged with such violence as to oblige 
us to cut away the topmast, and thereby relieve 
ourselves of much anxiety, as the wind was 
exceedingly fresh, and consequently the ship 
in not a little danger. 

“ This fire was probably occasioned by the 
friction of the runner of the main topsail tie. 
It is remarkable that the topmast, in falling, 
stove in, with its burning end, the arm-chest upon 
deck, in which were some horns filled with 
powder, and thence, without doing further 
injury, rebounded overboard.” 

This was not the only excitement the young 
consul had on his first official voyage. A few 
days after this incident a sail was discovered 
approaching. Says the journal: 

“ We were suspicious of her being an Algerine, 
and accordingly showed English colors. But 
this civility on our part did not answer the 
desired purpose, for no sooner had she gained 
our wake than she put about and stood for us 
with all sail. Our mainmast head had been so 
sprung in a gale of wind as to render carrying 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 385 

sail on it extremely hazardous. But it was no 
time to hesitate; the main tack was got aboard, 
and in the course of three or four hours we had 
the satisfaction to find that we outsailed her. 
The next morning she was not in sight. 

“ In the meantime, every exertion was made 
to fish the mast, which was scarcely secured, at 
sunset, when the same sail hove in sight, but 
night coming on we saw no more of her.” 

On April 17 another and similar sail appeared. 
“ She came under our lee, hove about, and gave 
us chase, being a poleacre-rigged snow.” 

The Hope outsailed the rover and arrived 
safely at Batavia on the Fourth of July. Here 
the Americans saw something of native life and 
much of the Dutch officials. They sailed July 
23 for China, and on August 10 arrived at Macao, 
the Portuguese settlement, and in due time at 
Canton. Here were found forty-five European 
ships and four American, as follows: The sloop 
Experiment of New York, Capt. Dean; ship 
Canton of Philadelphia, Truxton; Empress of 
China, New York, Green, and Grand Turk, 
Salem, West. 

This was the first fleet of American merchant 
ships in China. Major Shaw addressed himself 
assiduously to his business, and gave also of 
his time to put before the Chinese some knowl¬ 
edge of Americans. 

As a consul Major Shaw proved a worthy 


386 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

representative of liis country. He was refined, 
educated and industrious, of a winning per¬ 
sonality and keen wit, a ready conversationalist 
in several languages, a scholar in Latin and a 
shrewd observer of men. His reports to the 
state department were models of clearness, 
and contained much valuable information, the 
result of researches by a mind naturally acquisi¬ 
tive and subtle. 

In 1787 he planned a business trip to India, 
and proceeded to Macao to get passage. The 
uncertainty of sea travel in that part of the world 
in those days is illustrated by the fact that, 
failing to get passage in the desired ship, Major 
Shaw was obliged to remain inactive six months 
in Macao before he could proceed on his journey. 

He finally sailed for Bengal in January, 1788, 
returning to Canton in September of the same 
year. In 1789 Major Shaw undertook another 
six months voyage home, arriving at Newport, 
Rhode Island, July 5, 1789. 

On his arrival in Boston he found that his 
brother Francis, who had settled in Gouldsboro, 
Maine, had died in his absence, leaving a family. 
Major Shaw took under his protection two of 
his brother’s sons, one of whom, Robert Gould 
Shaw, became a well-known Boston merchant. 
His son, Francis, was the father of Colonel 
Robert Gould Shaw, whose valor as leader of 
the colored regiment in the Civil War is so 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 387 

beautifully commemorated in St. Gauden’s 
bronze which stands before the State House in 
Boston. 

During Major Shaw’s absence he had placed 
an order for a ship for his own account, which 
was built at Germantown, Quincy, on land now 
owned by the Sailors’ Snug Harbor. This ship, 
the Massachusetts, was between eight and nine 
hundred tons, and was the largest merchant 
vessel built in the country up to her time. Her 
launching in September, 1789, was the occasion 
of a great gathering. Commanders of English 
and French warships then in Boston harbor at¬ 
tended, and praised the qualities of the new ship. 

Major Shaw sailed on the Massachusetts for 
China, March 28, 1790. There he sold the ship 
to agents of the Portuguese government, and 
invested the proceeds in a cargo of goods for 
India and Belgium. Seeing that cargo safely 
transported and sold, he returned to America, 
arriving home from Os tend in 1792. 

Here he married, on August 21, 1792, Hannah, 
the daughter of William Phillips, a Boston 
merchant. But, so pressing were his business and 
official engagements in China that he was soon 
obliged to sail away from his bride of a few 
months on what proved to be his last voyage. 
He left New York on February 19, 1793, arri¬ 
ving in Canton the following November, after a 
hard passage. 


388 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

The climate of China had already made its 
mark upon him, and that winter his health 
failed completely. Despairing of recovery there, 
he embarked for home March 17, 1794, on the 
ship Washington. 

On May 30, off the Cape of Good Hope, he 
breathed his last, gazing at the miniature of his 
wife fastened over the foot of his berth. His 
last words were, “ God’s will be done.” His 
body was consigned to the deep. 

His wife, anxiously awaiting his return, re¬ 
ceived no forewarning of her loss, which was 
broken to her in a letter sent from New York, 
where the ship arrived in August, by a friend 
who was with Major Shaw in his last hours. She 
survived her husband thirty-nine years, dying, 
January 24, 1833, at Dedham and mourning to 
the last her brave young bridegroom, who in so 
true a sense, had been a hero of peace. 

The luxury of ice in summer seems to-day a 
mere commonplace, yet it was scarcely a hun¬ 
dred years ago that Frederic Tudor of Boston 
devoted a fortune and twenty years of his life 
to the introduction of ice into the tropics. In 
the possession of his grandson, the present Fred¬ 
eric Tudor, there is a journal-record of this re¬ 
markable business enterprise, and to read there 
the story of the ice-pioneer’s struggles, as his own 
graphic pen portrayed them, is to be convinced 


mm 





























OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 389 

that there are very real possibilities of romance 
in business. 

The book is a small leather covered volume 
filled with lined paper upon which, in a close 
though fairly plain hand, one may follow all 
the ups and downs of what then appeared to be 
a Quixotic enterprise. For it should be borne in 
mind that it was belief in the good which the 
common use of ice would do those who live in 
warm countries quite as much as the hope of 
large gains which nerved Frederic Tudor for 
his great fight against weather conditions and 
the corroding scorn of sceptics. 

The Tudor family is one of the first in New 
England, and it was scarcely less distinguished 
one hundred years ago than it is to-day. The 
ice-pioneer’s father was Colonel William D. 
Tudor, who served on Washington’s staff, and 
his mother was the lady constantly referred to 
as “ Mrs. Tudor ” in the writings of the Marquis 
de Chastellux, — a woman of such intelligence 
and literary gifts that she was once personally 
complimented by Marie Antoinette for some 
French verses she had written. The story of 
the courtship of these two was a charming 
Revolutionary romance. He was the eldest son 
of Deacon John Tudor, the prosperous baker 
whose Diary has already been quoted, and having 
been graduated from Harvard in 1769, he entered 
the law office of John Adams. Adams, a good 


390 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

lover himself, soon perceived that his young 
friend was not happy, and he seems to have 
promptly suspected the cause. So he wrote to 
the youth’s father a very kind letter, pleading 
that he make things financially easy for his son, 
whom he praised highly for his “ clear head and 
honest faithful heart.” His good offices would, 
in all probability, not have been wasted had not 
Boston, just then, been shut up by the Siege. 

William Tudor, though a patriot, stayed on 
in the town for the very simple reason that he 
was in love with Delia Jarvis, a Tory maiden, 
who was so far from any sympathy with her own 
country that her family still continued to use the 
tabooed tea. Delia herself is said to have served 
the forbidden beverage to the British troops after 
the skirmish at Lexington! When there came 
open warfare, however, the young patriot lawyer 
could no longer stand idly by, girl or no girl, so 
he escaped to Cambridge by way of Point 
Shirley, and was soon elected by Washington 
Judge Advocate General of all the forces with 
the rank of Colonel. 

From the patriot camp at Cambridge in spite 
of the difficulty of communication he continued 
to woo the Tory maiden of his choice. He was 
wont to swim from the mainland to Noddle’s 
Island (East Boston) where she and her people 
were then staying carrying his clothing upon 
his head! His letters to her were addressed 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 391 

“ My fair loyalist ” and hers to him were signed 
“ Your devoted rebel.” They were married 
early in 1778 and he retired from the army to 
devote himself to domestic life and the practice 
of his profession. In this he prospered greatly, 
acquiring, before many years, a town house on 
Court Street and a country home at Saugus (the 
latter house still stands and is now the poor- 
farm of the place). 

In the last decade of the eighteenth century 
Colonel Tudor made a journey to France, visit¬ 
ing London on his return trip. There he was 
presented to King George IY, and the following 
incident is related to have occurred. When his 
name was pronounced to the king, the latter 
looked up quickly and said “ What, one of us ? ” 
Then, receiving the information that Colonel 
Tudor had just returned from France, the king 
entered into a long conversation with him con¬ 
cerning the state of affairs in that country. 
Whereupon Lord Galloway, who had many other 
people to present, said impatiently “ His Majesty 
seems so deeply engaged with his cousin that he 
forgets what a number of people are in waiting 
to be presented! ” The king, however, continued 
his conversation until he had concluded his 
inquiries. 

The Tudors were always interesting people 
to talk to! The enthusiasm of the Marquis de 
Chastellux over Mrs. Tudor, with which we 


392 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

met in an earlier chapter, is remarkable, but it 
appears to have been well founded. After she 
had happily married her colonel she became a 
good patriot and turned to the service of her 
country and of her adventurous son her literary 
gifts and remarkable mental attainments. She 
was long one of the social celebrities of Boston, 
and is said to have learned the Italian language 
after her eightieth year that she might help 
Frederic’s tropical enterprises. When she was 
ninety she wrote a really excellent poem about 
the battle of Bunker Hill, on the occasion of the 
completion of the monument, in whose erection 
her son William had been deeply interested. 

Colonel Tudor and his gifted wife had four 
sons and two daughters. Of the sons all went 
to Harvard except Frederic, and of the daugh¬ 
ters one married Commodore John Stewart of 
the Ironsides and the other Robert Gardiner, 
for whom the town of Gardiner, Maine, is named. 
The Stewarts’ daughter married Charles Parnell 
and it was their son, Charles Stewart Parnell, 
who became the famous Irish agitator. His 
sister’s body lies, as is fitting, in the underground 
burial vault of the Tudor family at Mt. Auburn 
cemetery, and honors are occasionally paid to 
it there by loyal Irish patriots. 

The ice business seems to have interested 
Frederic Tudor while he was still only a boy. 
His family owned an estate of some two hundred 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 393 

and fifty acres out in Saugus, and it was on the 
tiny pond near the almshouse there that his 
first experiments in the cutting and storing of 
ice were made. When he was twenty-two 
Frederic became the owner of a West Indiaman 
large enough to carry some ice, and it was soon 
after this that he took his first crop to Martinique. 
Enlisted with him in the enterprise at the start 
were his cousin James Savage and his brother 
William Tudor, the latter well known in Boston 
as one of the founders of the Boston Athenaeum, 
a prime mover in the Bunker Hill Monument 
project and first editor of the North American 
Review . 

Both Tudors were only soldiers of fortune, 
however, when that first cargo of ice set sail. 
On the cover of the little brown journal there 
appears, beside the date 1805, this significant 
inscription: “ He who gives back at the first 
repulse and, without striking the second blow, 
despairs of success has never been, is not and 
never will be a hero in war, love or business.” 
It is because the pages of the journal are full of 
such philosophy as this as well as of unusual 
entries concerning profit and loss that the book 
is of absorbing interest. “ A glorious enterprise 
rich in promise,” is the entry of the buoyant trader 
on one day. The next we find “ People only 
laugh and believe me not when I tell them I am 
going to carry ice to the West Indies.” This was 


394 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

entirely true. It was only with the greatest 
difficulty that sailors could be persuaded to 
sail with the cargo. They thought that the ice 
must surely melt and swamp the boat. 

Even the press ridiculed the enterprise. A 
Boston paper of February 20, 1806, contains this 
paragraph: “ No joke: A vessel has cleared at 
the Custom House for Martinique with a cargo 
of ice. We hope this will not prove a slippery 
speculation.” Yet that was exactly what it 
did prove. Careful as Frederic Tudor had been 
to obtain the exclusive privilege of importing, 
and selling ice in the tropics for the next ten 
years, he found that only loss and not profit 
awaited him. Real ice was first used at St. 
Martinique on March 6, 1806, having sold for 
thirty cents a pound, but the people could not 
be educated to appreciate the commodity. 
Moreover, there were no ice-houses in which to 
store his goods, no subscriptions with which to 
build up further importations, and so the ice 
cargo melted unprofitably away. “ I found my¬ 
self,” says the journal, “ without money and 
without friends, and with only a cargo of ice 
in a torrid zone to depend on for the supply of 
both.” The “ plan ” our enthusiast pronounced 
good but he recorded as well that his loss that 
first year was four thousand dollars and that, as 
scion of a distinguished family, he had not 
exactly enjoyed being arrested on the street 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 395 

for a debt of two hundred dollars which he had 
no possible means of paying. 

In three years the young man lost the then 
very large sum of twenty-five thousand dollars 
in his ice ventures at Martinique. Then followed 
soon the disturbances which preceded the war of 
1812, and which were, of course, particularly 
fatal to an enterprise of his sort. The war over, 
we find him doggedly pushing his scheme, 
however, trying to pull himself up by his boot 
straps, as it were. “ I have again and again,” 
he writes, “ recovered spirit to proceed in this 
undertaking through a long course of distressing 
disappointments in which I have for ten years 
experienced bankruptcy, poverty, ill health, 
w r eak nerves, and the consolation of a prison. 
Should I fail in this attempt it will be the last. 
Hope will die should the man survive.” It 
W’as about this time that he wrote his mother 
that his income would be fifty thousand dollars 
annually in five years should his plans prosper. 

Besides the problem of getting his ice, — much 
of which was cut at his brother-in-law’s place in 
Gardiner, — and conveying it to the countries 
where he had w orked hard to obtain the exclu¬ 
sive privilege of such importation, Tudor was 
confronted with the enormous difficulty of per¬ 
suading people in the tropics that for them ice w r as 
a necessity as well as a luxury. The advertising 
put out to this end is often quite entertaining in 


396 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

its explicitness. The journal contains one 
clipping from a Charleston, North Carolina, 
paper which reads as follows under the big 
head-line “ Ice.” 

The Ice establishment at Fitzsimon’s wharf 
is now opened. Ice will be for sale at all hours 
of the day, from sunrise to sundown, except 
when the Ice House Keeper is necessarily absent 
at his meals. It will be sold in any quantity 
from one pound to 500 pounds. The Ice House 
will be open a few hours on Sunday morning. 
The price will be eight and a third cents a pound 
with an allowance of four per centum to those 
who purchase largely or by tickets. The price 
at which ice is now offered in Charleston is as 
low as it was in the northern cities when the 
article was first introduced in them in the summer 
season; and when it is remembered that the 
capital invested in this undertaking falls very 
little short of $10,000 and the very great waste 
which must necessarily take place in the best 
constructed ice-house it must be apparent that 
the profit cannot be more than reasonable how¬ 
ever great the consumption may be. The 
inhabitants therefore are invited to call for ice 
in such quantities as shall enable the proprietor 
of the house to continue the present price which 
cannot be the case unless ice is used rather as a 
necessary of life than as a luxury. 

“ The best method of carrying ice in a small 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 397 

quantity,” the advertisement kindly goes on to 
explain, “ is to wrap it in a blanket. These may 
be had at the ice-house of sufficient size at $1. 
Of the mode of keeping ice best when it is carried 
home it is to be observed that it should be kept 
in that part of the house which is least cool, 
that is to say in a dry closet where there is no 
circulation of air ... . it is a well attested 
principle that whatever will keep a man warm, 
with the exception of the sun and fire, will keep 
ice cold.” 

The price to each family for ice service was 
ten dollars a month. The best plan of payment, 
it was added, was by means of tickets, “ for 
there have been instances where negroes have 
been detected in holding back one half of the 
money sent and attributing the small quantity 
of ice returned to its thawing on the way.” 

Fortunately for his sanity Frederic Tudor 
preserved a fine sense of humor through all his 
troubles. After striking a fairly good bargain 
with a man in Cuba he writes in the diary: 
“ Thus is the winter of my discontent made 
glorious summer and all the clouds that lowered 
upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean 
buried. Drink, Spaniards and be cool, that I 
who have suffered so much in the cause may be 
able to go home and keep myself warm.” A 
little later he writes, this time after an unsuc¬ 
cessful struggle with conditions: “ Should I 


398 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

come again to Havana I will record no more of 
my groans at the sufferings I sustain here. They 
ought to be sustained by any man who will 
come here while he can in any way exist at 
home.” 

It was while in the throes of a mood like this 
that Tudor invested “ one good dollar ” with 
seventy-one dollars he had found in a bag stowed 
away in one of the ice tubs and bought a lot of 
lottery tickets in a venture where, as he knew, 
there were one hundred and thirty blanks to 
each purse. “ But should I draw all blanks,” 
he observed, “ I am still determined to have a 
ticket in every lottery while I remain here. 
Having met with so much misfortune on good 
calculation I mean to try if nothing is to be got 
upon a bad calculation.” 

It was at about this stage of his career that 
Tudor put to himself, Amiel-like, a very inter¬ 
esting question and answer: “ Question: Had 
you not better entirely abandon this ice busi¬ 
ness ? It is a subject which wears out body 
and mind while it prevents you from having 
that standing among your fellow men which 
you deserve. It occupies all your attention and 
appears at best subject to great hazard. In 
the course of twelve years’ pursuit you have 
arrived at little certainty and there can be 
little doubt that the exertions which you have 
made in this business would have given you a 




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Page 402 Page 402 







OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 399 

better situation and the confidence of others 
which you are now without. You stand at best 
as a well-intentioned schemer and projector 
when you might, with a more regular applica¬ 
tion to common mercantile business, become a 
more useful and respected member of society. 
It is not too late, you are not yet 36 years old 
and you may yet get back into the old road. Sell 
out in the best way you can and become a regu¬ 
lar man. 

“ Answer: The suggestions of doubt are 
too late. . . My reputation is now so far pledged 
that I must advance, and should I be able to 
secure Savannah and New Orleans I am tolerably 
certain of doing very handsomely. I, therefore, 
throw away every discouraging thought and de¬ 
termine to push on with as much exertion as J 
can command and endeavor to deserve sue 
cess.” 

Not long after this the success so devotedly 
struggled for really began to arrive. A liberal 
fortune, as well as the satisfaction of know¬ 
ing that he had brought to inhabitants of a 
tropical climate that which must often mean to 
them life as well as luxury, were Tudor’s re¬ 
ward for his years of sacrifice. He was now a 
middle-aged man, but he was so fortunate — 
when he settled down in Boston, — as to win 
the love of a charming girl of nineteen, a Miss 
Fenno of New York, interesting to us not only 


400 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

on her own account but because it was her uncle, 
Charles Jones Fenno, whom Rebecca Gratz 
(Scott’s Rebecca in “ Ivanhoe ”) loved. Miss 
Gratz was the close friend of Matilda Hoffman, 
it will be remembered; it was in her arms that 
the lovely girl, to whom Washington Irving was 
devoted to the exclusion of all others, died at 
the age of eighteen. Henceforth the bond 
between Miss Gratz and Irving was peculiarly 
strong. And it was Irving, as everybody knows, 
who, while visiting Scott, told the author of 
“ Waverley ” Rebecca’s story and so presented 
him with his finest woman character. 

For a summer home Frederic Tudor built 
the house which is now the home of the Nahant 
Club, and there he set out the handsome trees 
which to-day adorn “ cold roast Boston.” Long¬ 
fellow in his Journal gives us a charming picture 
of the ice hero in his old age: “ Met Mr. Tudor 
climbing over a stone fence [at Nahant] with 
snow white hair, a red cravat and blue coat with 
brass buttons. He showed us his wheat-field 
by the sea. Having heard it said that wheat 
would not grow in such a place he is determined 
to make it grow there.” Evidently Tudor’s 
adventurous spirit had not been really dampened 
by his years of discouraging experiment with ice 
in the tropics! 


CHAPTER XVI 


SOCIAL LIFE IN THE TRANSITION PERIOD 

O H that our young ladies were as dis¬ 
tinguished for the beauties of their 
minds as they are for the charms of 
their persons! ” wrote John Quincy Adams 
when a young man. “ But alas! too many of 
them are like a beautiful apple that is insipid to 
the taste.” Which shows that at the end of the 
eighteenth century and the beginning of the 
nineteenth Boston women were renowned for 
other than intellectual possessions. That our 
period could boast of a few women who united 
charms of person with those of mind we have 
already seen, to be sure; young Quincy Adams’s 
own mother offers one example of this happy 
combination, and there was the Mrs. Tudor 
over whom the Marquis de Chastellux waxed 
enthusiastic, not to mention Mercy Warren and 
her group of friends. These women, however, 
were the exceptions. Most of the girls of that 
day were educated to shine in a drawing-room 
and nowhere else. 


402 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

That they did shine there is undeniable. The 
first Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, who was born 
Sally Foster, appears to have been very richly 
endowed with social grace and beauty. She 
married on May 15, 1790, the great orator who 
became second mayor of Boston, and she soon 
was occupying a prominent place in the repub¬ 
lican court circles of that day as well as in Boston. 
For her husband was elected to Congress after 
the retirement of Fisher Ames in 1797. Mrs. 
Governor Bowdoin and Mrs. Thomas Lind all 
Winthrop were other lovely women prominent 
in the “ society ” of the day. 

The gayeties of Boston town, as seen through 
the eyes of a lady who was a part of them, have 
been alluringly described by Josiah P. Quincy, 
in his valuable chapter on “ Social Life in Bos¬ 
ton,” (contributed to the fourth volume of the 
“ Memorial History ”): “In the regions of 
fashion dancing still continues the rage,” de¬ 
clares this sprightly observer January 2, 1807. 
“ Private balls are numerous, and little cotillion 
parties occur every week. The dancing disease 
having gradually ascended till it reached the 
middle-aged, now begins to descend on the other 
side of the hill and attacks the old. . . . The 
public balls were quite neglected except the 
last, which, being the first of January, was 
crowded and brilliant, — though not, say the 
fashionables, very genteel. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 403 

“ The night before last, as my cold was 
better,” continues our society girl of the period, 
“ I ventured to Mrs. James Perkins’s, who gave 
a ball to more than two hundred people. The 
company, though large, was not mixed but con¬ 
sisted of all the respectable people in town, with 
their children and in some cases grandchildren. 
It was very pleasant, well-conducted and per¬ 
fectly satisfactory to all tastes. They had 
dancing for the young, cards and conversation 
for the old and for those who love eating an 
excellent collation of solid good things in the 
side-board style.” 

For ice-cream was not yet in vogue at private 
parties. There w^as no system in Boston for 
storing the abundant products of New England 
winters which Frederic Tudor was so heroically 
shipping south. And the age of essences w r as 
yet to come. The single confectioner on New¬ 
bury (now Washington) Street who served the 
frozen dainty to ladies and their escorts, after 
a performance at the theatre, or in the course 
of an afternoon’s shopping, was obliged to 
remind his customers, through the medium of 
the press, that “ the fruit-flavors of raspberry, 
strawberry, currant and pineapple ” could be 
furnished only in the seasons of those produc¬ 
tions. For men who needed special refreshment 
there was more ample provision; they could go 
to Vila’s, the Shakespeare Coffee House in 


404 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Water Street, or to the more aristocratic restau¬ 
rant of Julien. Julien had been a cook in the 
family of Dubuque, a refugee from the French 
Revolution, who occupied, at one time, the 
Shirley mansion in Roxbury. While in this 



situation he saved enough to start the first 
“ Restorator 55 of which Boston could boast. 
It is to him that we owe the agreeable soup 
which bears his name and now graces menu 
cards the country over. 

When the trouble with England began to 
loom large on the horizon, early in the nineteenth 
century, Boston keenly felt its gloom. But the 







































BEACOX HILL AND ITS MONUMENT, 

Page 413 















OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 405 


social spirit of the place refused to be dampened. 
“We seem determined to imitate our present 
allies and future masters by dancing away our 
cares,” writes the young lady already quoted, 
“ Mr. Samuel Welles’s ball was splendid and 
tasteful; it was honored by the presence of the 
most brilliant collection of beauties that has 
appeared in public for many years. The ladies 
were dressed w T ith much taste. The degree of 
light was adjusted with happy skill to suit their 
complexions. Transparent paintings and flowers 
whose bright hues were reflected from mirrors 
gave lustre to the scene. The supper was highly 
elegant; the table [spread for three hundred!] 
was covered with the luxuries of every clime and 
every season. Summer was robbed of its flowers 
and autumn of its fruits to embellish this winter 
fete. Fine peaches, blushing with the glow of 
September, and a variety of melons were pre¬ 
served with great care and expense for this 
gallant occasion. 

“ The Turkish band in their elegant costume 
shared the honors of the night, and divided with 
the ladies the tribute of approbation. The grace 

of Peter in playing the cymbals and of Mrs.- 

in dancing cotillions received equal applause. 
Mr. Welles acquitted himself with great pro¬ 
priety and all went off with eclat except the 
toasts which were rather flat. The gentlemen 
were not prepared to be either witty or senti- 


406 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

mental, and impromptus suit the genius of the 
French better than that of the English or their 
American descendants. Mr. Otis alone was 
happy on this occasion: his wit is ever ready/’ 
Robert Treat Paine was another Bostonian 
who understood the delicate turning of a toast. 
One of his to the famous beauties of the Fowle 
family in Watertown ran: 

“ To the fair of every town 
And the Fowle of Watertown.” 


It was wont to be drunk reverently, all standing, 
by the gallants of the period. 

When peace was proclaimed, early in 1815, 
the joy of the Bostonians knew no bounds. It 
is pleasant to be able, through Mr. Quincy, to 
follow the subsequent festivities as they were 
enjoyed by a young girl, still under twenty. 

“ Monday, February 13, 1815 — After break¬ 
fast all the bells began to ring. I asked mamma 
what it meant and she said that she supposed it 

must be a town meeting. Suddenly-burst 

into the room, exclaiming, ‘ Do you know what the 
bells are ringing for ? Peace! Peace! ! Peace! ! ! 
We thought her out of her senses and papa went 
out to learn the truth. He soon returned and 
told us that it was indeed true and that the whole 
town was in an uproar about it. We felt that 
we could not stay at home so we ordered the 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 407 

sleigh and set forth. First we went through 
Cornhill, then past the Common and through 
the Main street down to the North End. The 
streets were crowded: in State street you might 
have walked upon the people’s heads. Almost 
every house had a flag on it and in some places 
they were strung across the streets. 

“We then rode again over the town and met 
several companies of soldiers. In the main 
street we met a company followed by three sleds 
each drawn by fifteen horses. A man was in 
the front of each with the word Peace printed 
in large capitals on his hat. These sleds were 
full of sailors who, just as they came up, gave 
a most tremendous huzza, which was echoed 
by the immense crowd about us. The ladies 
were running about the streets as if they did 
not know what they were doing; the gentlemen 
were shaking hands and wishing each other joy. 
All this time bells were ringing, cannons firing, 
and drums beating. I never saw such a scene. 
The joy of the poorer classes, who had suffered 
so much, was quite affecting. 

“ February 23, 1815 — The Oratorio in cele¬ 
bration of peace was performed yesterday morn¬ 
ing at the Stone Chapel. We obtained seats 
near the altar and were joined by Mrs. S. G. 
Perkins and her two daughters. The Church 
was crowded; and the presence of several 
British officers in full uniform gave ocular 


408 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

demonstration that peace had come. After the 
services we went to the balcony of the house of 
Mrs. Lowell, senior, in Common street, to see 
the procession. Representatives of all the 
trades were drawn on sleds, with appropriate 



INTERIOR OF KING’S CHAPEL 


insignia, and carrying their tools. The brick¬ 
layers, were building a house; they broke their 
bricks and worked busily. The carpenters were 
erecting a Temple of Peace. The printers 
struck off hand-bills announcing ‘ Peace! ’ and 
threw them among the crowd. The bakers, 





















OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 409 

tatters, paper-makers and others had each 
their insignia. At six o’clock in the evening 
we drove in the sleigh over the town to see the 
illuminations of all the public edifices and of 
many private houses. The fireworks consisted 
of rockets thrown from the roof of the State 
House, which was decorated with transparencies. 
On each side of the pediment was a pine-tree, 
and a star in the centre of all of fireworks; and 
as the star exploded the word ‘ Peace 9 appeared. 
The celebration passed off without accident and 
was highly successful.” 

Of course there had to be a ball in honor of 
this epoch-making event. It was held on the 
evening of February 23, in Concert Hall and our 
entertaining young friend, after hesitating for 
some time as to whether she could go to a public 
ball, decided that she must go, — and went. 
“ My dress,” she writes, “ was a sheer dotted 
muslin skirt, trimmed with three rows of plaited 
white satin ribbon an inch wide. The bodice 
of white satin was also trimmed with the same 
ribbon. I wore white lace around the neck, a 
bouquet, gold ornaments, chain etc. My hair 
was arranged in braids, bandeau and curls. 
The building was illuminated within and with¬ 
out and was decorated with flags and flowers; 
the effect was beautiful. The band stationed 
in a balcony above was playing as we entered. 
A platform surrounded the floor of the hall and 


410 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

upon this we secured seats with Mrs. R. Sullivan 
and Mrs. S. G. Perkins and her daughters; we 
had much amusement in observing the company. 
Several British officers in full uniform were 
actively employed in flirting and dancing, not 
in the most graceful manner; they seemed 
favorite partners among the young ladies. [When 
could a girl resist brass buttons ?] I danced 
several cotillions contrary to my expectations 
as I was acquainted with few of the beaux. . . 

It is interesting that the maiden in the sheer 
muslin gown should have used this word ‘ beaux ’ 
in speaking of the dancing men at the Peace 
Ball. They were rather extraordinary creatures, 
those beaux! A satirical communication upon 
them which appears in the Centinal , not long 
before this date, preserves, despite obvious 
exaggerations, some of their curious traits. 
“ The dapper beau,” says the article, “ wears a 
hat about the size of Aunt Tabby’s snuff-box 
stuck upon the very crown of his head. In his 
hand he carries a stick of wood which seems to 
weary him very much, especially in summer.” 
Obviously this person was the progenitor of 
the “ dude ” of the late nineteenth century. 

Visitors to Boston, having pretensions to 
fashion, were wont at this period to seek accom¬ 
modations in the select boarding-houses. That of 
Mrs. Carter, in a portion of the building at the 
corner of Park and Beacon Streets was a favorite 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 411 

resort. “ Mrs. Carter rejects twenty or thirty 
strangers a day,” say;s a letter bearing the date 
of August 20, 1800, “ yet still keeps the moderate 
number of sixty in her family. After the warmth 
of the day is over, we form animated groups; we 
had quite a romantic one last evening, sitting 
on the grass by moonlight, with the accompani¬ 
ment of a guitar and singing.” 

Fishing parties were a form of diversion much 
enjoyed. “ The gentlemen, sometimes by them¬ 
selves and sometimes in company with ladies,” 
writes a visitor, “ spend the day partly on the 
water and partly on some of the islands in this 
delightful harbor. I have been at one of these 
parties and assure you we had a high degree of 
social and friendly conviviality.” Boston was 
then an acknowledged summer resort, it will 
be seen. The houses bordering upon the Com¬ 
mon were even considered so suburban that 
when (in 1804) Hon. John Phillips, father of 
Wendell Phillips, built, at the corner of Walnut 
and Beacon Streets, the brick house still stand¬ 
ing there and now occupied by the Misses Mason, 
his uncle, Judge Oliver Wendell, was asked 
what in the world had induced his nephew “ to 
remove out of town.” And it was only two 
years before this the selectmen took it upon 
themselves to forbid Sunday bathing at the foot 
of the Common. 

There is no evidence that it was the bathing 


412 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

which was objectionable to the law-makers, 
however; the ordinance seems clearly, indeed, 
to have been aimed at those who could avail 
themselves of this privilege only on Sunday. 
The Centinal , therefore, printed this rhyming 
protest: 

“ In Superstition’s days, *tis said 
Hens laid two eggs on Monday, 

Because a hen would lose her head 
That laid an egg on Sunday. 

“ Now our wise rulers and the law 
Say none shall wash on Sunday; 

So Boston folk must dirty go, 

And wash them twice on Monday.” 


The Sunday of this period extended from 
midnight Saturday till six o’clock on the day 
itself. This did not mean that secular employ¬ 
ments could be carried on in the evening, only 
that the regulations concerning travel relaxed 
after six. It was unlawful for any hired carriage 
to enter or leave Boston during the Sabbath, 
and during service no vehicle could move faster 
than a walk. Very likely these laws were not 
fully enforced; but there is a story that Governor 
Hancock was once fined for taking a turn in the 
mail on his way home from church. 

While we are in the vicinity of the Common 
let us take note that the State House, as Bul- 
finch originally designed it, was completed in 1798, 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 413 

the tract having been passed by the town to the 
Commonwealth three years before, for a nominal 
consideration of five shillings. Nearby on the 
hill there had been erected, in 1790, a monument, 
designed by Charles Bulfinch, to commemorate 
the heroes of June seventeenth, and set up on 
this site rather than any other to replace the 
old beacon which blew down in 1789. In 1811 
this monument was removed and the hill 
levelled. Its tablets, written by Bulfinch him¬ 
self, may still be seen, on the sides of the hand¬ 
some granite shaft which now perpetuates his 
design. Park Street Church and its graceful 
spire, designed by Peter Bonner, dates from 
1809. 

One pride of Boston at this period, which 
however, was unfortunately destroyed prema¬ 
turely by fire, was the Exchange Coffee House, 
in Congress Square. The principal floor was 
intended to be used by the merchants as an 
Exchange and the building was, therefore, far 
larger than the travelling public of that day 
called for; its erection occupied two and a half 
years, and it cost half a million dollars! With 
a front on Congress Street and entrances on 
State Street and Devonshire Street the house was 
admirably situated for business purposes and 
was very convenient also as the stopping place 
for stages. But it never paid, and many of the 
mechanics, who had a share in building it, were 


414 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

ruined by their failure to collect the money due 
them for their labor. The town of Boston was 
not yet developed to the point of filling a house 



PARK STREET CHURCH 


with two hundred and ten apartments. Captain 
Hull made the Exchange his quarters when he 
was in port during the war of 1812, and when 
President Monroe visited the town, in July, 












OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 415 


1817, he put up here. A sumptuous Fourth of 
July dinner was served for him here with ex¬ 
president John Adams and Commodore Perry 
among the guests. But a fire destroyed the 
house in November 1818, and its proprietor, 
Mr. Barnum, lost twenty-five thousand dollars! 

The tavern and transportation conditions of 
Boston at this period might very well occupy 
a book of their own, and inasmuch as I have 
elsewhere 1 dealt with that subject at considerable 
length, I shall just touch bn it here. One very 
interesting tavern-keeper was Israel Hatch, who 
also ran a line of stages, and who lured cus¬ 
tomers to his house by the following sirens’ song: 


“ My friends and travellers, you’ll meet 
With kindly welcome and good cheer, 
And what it is you now shall hear: 

A spacious house and liquors good, 

A man who gets his livelihood 
By favours granted; hence he’ll be 
Always smiling, always free: 

A good large house for chaise or chair, 

A stable well exposed to air: 

To finish all and make you blest, 

You’ll have the breezes from the west. 
And — ye, who flee th’ approaching Sol, 
My doors are open to your call; 

Walk in — and it shall be my care 
T’ oblige the weary traveller. 

From Attleborough, Sirs, I came, 

[»See “ Among Old New England Inns.”] 


416 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Where once I did you entertain, 

And now shall here as there before 
Attend you at my open door. 

Obey all orders with despatch, 

— Am, Sirs, your servant, 

“ Israel Hatch/’ 

In 1798 Hatch kept the tavern at the south 
corner of Mason Street shown in the view of the 
Haymarket Theatre. 

Captain Levi Pease, who hailed from Shrews¬ 
bury, was another Yankee who made stage¬ 
running and tavern-keeping pay abundantly in 
the Boston of this time. His house was on the site 
now occupied by St. Paul’s Church. At first going 
to New York by Pease line was by no means easy, 
if we may trust Josiah Quincy, who has left us a 
description of travel by stage under the auspices 
of this Jehu: “ I set out from Boston,” he says, 
“ in the line of stages lately established by an 
enterprising Yankee Pease by name, which in 
that day was considered a method of transporta¬ 
tion of wonderful expedition. The journey to 
New York took up a week. The carriages were 
old and shackling and much of the harness made 
of ropes. One pair of horses carried the stage 
eighteen miles. We generally reached our rest¬ 
ing-place for the night, if no accident intervened, 
at ten o’clock, and after a frugal supper we went 
to bed with a notice that we should be called 
at three the next morning, which generally 



STATE STREET ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 

Page 407 



























































THE HAYMARKET THEATRE. 
Tage 432 























OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 417 

proved to be half past two. Then, whether it 
snowed or rained, the traveller must rise and 
make ready by the help of a horn lantern and a 
farthing candle, and proceed on his way over 
bad roads. . . . Thus we travelled eighteen miles 
a stage, sometimes obliged to get out and help 
the coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire 
or rut, and arrived at New York after a week’s 
hard travelling, wondering at the ease as well 
as the expedition of our journey.” 

All this was much changed for the better, 
however, by the time of which we are now wri¬ 
ting. For in 1808 the first Massachusetts turn¬ 
pike was laid out from Boston to Worcester, as 
a result of the enterprise of Captain Pease. 
And his horses, wagons and harnesses had for 
a long time been very good. John Melish, who 
travelled from Boston to New York by stage¬ 
coach in 1806 declared “ the conveyance easy 
and in summer very agreeable.” 

To one of the inns in Boston there came, in 
the early twenties, a Southern traveller, whose 
name has not come down to us, but with whose 
description of the women of the town this chapter 
may very well close, because it harmonizes 
perfectly with a quotation used in our first para¬ 
graph. “ The ladies,” says our writer, — in 
“ Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the 
United States,” — “ are not exceeded by any 
on the continent; in accomplished manners 


418 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


they possess all the yielding softness of the 
Southern ladies, with warmer hearts and minds 
improved by travelling, most of them having 
made the tour of Europe. Their countenance 
is diffused with a magic charm of irresistible 
sweetness, to which they join the utmost grace 
of gesture and harmony of voice. As to beauty, 
the ladies of Boston are celebrated throughout 
the world.” High praise this, — so high I 
can’t help feeling that our young Alabamian was 
generalizing in his book from the charms of 
some particular Boston girl who had captivated 
his fancy. Still, there are abundant data in 
pictures and tradition to prove that Boston 
women were very lovely early in the nineteenth 
century. 


CHAPTER XVII 


EARLY BOSTON THEATRES AND THEIR STARS 

C OTTON MATHER, in 1686, says in his 
preface to the “ Testimony against Pro¬ 
fane and Superstitious Customs: ” “ There 
is much discourse now of beginning stage plays 
in New England.” Yet, for many years after 
this sentence was written, activity in the matter 
of the drama was limited to “ discourse.” The 
treatment which was being accorded to actors 
in England was so little encouraging! 

The first actual Boston performance of which 
one can find record was that of Otway’s “ Orphan 
or Unhappy Marriage ” held at the British 
Coffee House on State Street (then King Street) 
in 1750. The play on this occasion was given by 
two Englishmen assisted by some volunteers, 
and its presentation led to the immediate en¬ 
actment of “ An Act To Prevent Stage Plays 
and other Theatrical Entertainments ” which 
became a law in March, 1750. The framers of 
the law gave themselves the satisfaction of 


420 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

stating that stage plays “ not only occasion 
great and unnecessary expenses, and discourage 
industry and frugality, but likewise tend gen¬ 
erally to increase immorality, impiety and a 
contempt for religion.” As a matter of fact 
there had been almost a theatrical riot at the 
particular performance which had inspired this 
law. So many wanted to see the play and so 
few could be accommodated, in the small room 
where the performance took place, that entrance 
became the right of those with the strongest 
shoulders and sharpest elbows. The town gaol 
was the resting place, that night, of many of 
these. 

But though the prohibitory law stood stolidly 
on the statute books, private performances, 
where no money was received, were tacitly 
excepted from prosecution and so the habit of 
having such performances grew quietly in the 
town. How this slowly accelerating theatrical 
impulse found a pleasant and natural expression 
during the Siege we have already seen. After 
the departure of the British, however, the 
Thespian spirit lay dormant for several years. 
Yet that there was apprehension lest it should 
awaken may be seen from the following resolve, 
passed on October 16, 1778, in no less stately 
an assembly than the Continental Congress: 
“ Whereas frequenting play houses and theatrical 
entertainments has a fatal tendency to divert 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 421 

the minds of the people from a due attention 
to the means necessary to the defence of their 
country and preservation of their liberties, — 
Resolved , That any person holding an office 
under the United States who shall act, pro¬ 
mote, encourage, or attend any such play, 
shall be deemed unworthy to hold such office 
and shall be accordingly dismissed.” 

The sweep and severity of this act indicates 
that the drama was pressing the patriots hard. 
Such was indeed the case. Though the Revolu¬ 
tion was by no means over yet, its successful 
outcome seemed to many people assured and 
they were already beginning to look forward to 
a happy, prosperous period of reconstruction. 
When peace finally was declared dramatic 
literature began to be read as never before. 
And to read Shakespeare is of course to wish 
to see Shakespeare acted. Moreover, many 
Americans had witnessed Garrick’s marvellous 
performances in London, and others were 
reading in the English magazines about the work 
of John Philip Kemble. 

In New York and Philadelphia theatres were 
already in full swing, and drew their clientele 
from the best people. It was felt to be time for 
Boston to step into line! Accordingly, a coterie 
of wealthy gentlemen of culture attempted to 
educate public sentiment to the point which 
would permit the erection of a theatre. To this 


422 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


end the legislature was petitioned, in 1790, 
for authority to open a place for the presentation 
of theatrical performances. Such permission 
was promptly refused. Samuel Adams led the 
opposition. Relentlessly the old Puritan set 
himself against any deviation from the letter of 
the law, protesting in town meeting, with almost 
his pristine vigor, against the motion to instruct 
representatives to repeal the prohibitory act. 
When Harrison Gray Otis made an eloquent 
speech on the same side Adams thanked God 
“ that there was one young man willing to step 
forth in the good old cause of morality and 
religion.” He continued his speech against the 
repeal of the act until his weak voice was drowned 
in roars of disapproval. In spite of him, the 
motion to instruct the representatives was 
carried! Boston really wanted its playhouse. 
It was urged that “ a theatre where the actions 
of great and virtuous men are represented, 
under every possible embellishment which genius 
and eloquence can give, wdll not only afford a 
rational and innocent amusement, but essentially 
advance the interests of private and political 
virtue; will have a tendency to polish the man¬ 
ners and habits of society, to disseminate the 
social affections, and to improve and refine the 
literary taste of our rising Republic.” When the 
Legislature met in 1792 Mr. Tudor of Boston 
introduced a bill to repeal the act prohibiting 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 423 

theatrical entertainments. The proposition was 
promptly rejected. A reconsideration was car¬ 
ried but a protest sent in by some conservative 
inhabitants caused the vote to come out ninety- 
five to forty-four in favor of keeping the pro¬ 
hibitory law among the statutes. 

Thereupon, the dramatically inclined de¬ 
termined to go ahead with their theatre, in spite 
of the law, and to prove that a playhouse was 
not the objectionable institution some good 
Boston folk evidently believed it to be. A site 
was selected in what is now Hawley Street but 
which was then known as Board Alley, — 
because originally only a short-cut path from 
State Street to Trinity Church on Summer 
Street. It was a region, at this time, of mud and 
livery stables; it was probably one of these 
stables that was fashioned into a theatre. Here 
at any rate a stage was erected, — and the 
“ New Exhibition Room ” became an accom¬ 
plished fact. Its first performance was on August 
1, 1792, and its manager Mr. Joseph Harper, 
one of the prominent members of the firm of 
Hallam and Henry, who were the Shuberts 
of that day. 

The Bill at the opening of this first Boston 
playhouse,—quoted from that very interesting 
book, “A Record of the Boston Stage,”—is 
full of color. It reads as follows: 


424 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

NEW EXHIBITION ROOM 

BOARD ALLEY 

FEATS OF ACTIVITY 

This evening, the 10th of August, will be exhibited Dancing on 
the Tight Rope by Monsieurs Placide and Martin. 
Mons. Placide will dance a Hornpipe on a Tight 
Rope, play the Violin in various attitudes, and 
jump over a cane backwards and forwards. 

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 

By Mr. Harper 

SINGING 

By Mr. Wools 

Various feats of tumbling by Mons. Placide and Martin, who 
will make somersetts backwards over a table, chair, &c. 
Mons. Martin will exhibit several feats on the Slack Rope. 

In the course of the Evening’s Entertainments will be delivered 

THE GALLERY OF PORTRAITS 
or, 

THE WORLD AS IT GOES 

By Mr. Harper 

The whole to conclude with a Dancing Ballet called The Bird 
Catcher, with the Minuet de la Cour and the Gavot. 


This sounds much more like the program at 
a vaudeville performance than like an announce¬ 
ment for the “ legitimate.” Evidently it was 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 425 

intended to test the law just as the “ Sunday 
Concert ” in Boston does to-day. 

For almost two months this continued to be 
the pabulum offered and then, by way of trans¬ 
ition to actual theatrical performances, the 
drama began to be presented in the guise of a 
“ moral lecture.” “ Othello,” as thus given is 
very interesting, I think. Its playbill for a per¬ 
formance in Newport, some time before reads: 

A MORAL DIALOGUE 
In Five Parts 

Depicting the evil effects of jealousy, and other bad passions, 
and proving that happiness can only spring from the pursuit 
of virtue. 

Mr. Douglas — will represent a noble and magnanimous 
Moor, called Othello, who loves a young lady named Desde- 
mona, and after he has married her, harbors, (as in too many 
cases) the dreadful passion of jealousy. 

Of jealousy, our being’s bane, 

Mark the small cause and the most dreadful pain. 

Mr. Allyn — will depict the character of a specious villain in 
the regiment of Othello, who is so base as to hate his commander 
on mere suspicion, and to impose on his best friend. Of such 
characters, it is to be feared, there are thousands in the world, 
and the one in question may present to us a salutary warning. 

The man that wrongs his master and his friend, 

What can he come to but to a shameful end ? 

Mr. Hallam — will delineate a young and thoughtful officer, 
who is traduced by Mr. Allyn, and getting drunk, loses his 


426 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


situation and his general’s esteem. All young men whatsoever 
take example from Cassio. 

The ill effects of drinking would you see ? 

Be warned and fly from evil company. 

Mr. Morris will represent an old gentleman, the father of 
Desdemona who is not cruel or covetous, but is foolish enough 
to dislike the noble Moor, his son-in-law, because his face is 
not white forgetting that we all spring from one root. Such 
prejudices are very numerous and very wrong. 

Fathers beware w hat sense and love ye lack, 

’Tis crime, not color, makes the being black. 

Mr. Quelch — will depict a fool who wishes to become a 
knave, and, trusting to one, gets killed by him. Such is the 
friendship of rogues — take heed. 

When fools would knaves become, how often you’ll 
Perceive the knave not wiser than the fool. 

Mrs. Morris — will represent a young and virtuous wife, 
who being wrongfully suspected, gets smothered (in an adjoin¬ 
ing room) by her husband. 

Reader, attend; and e’er thou goest hence 

Let fall a tear to helpless innocence. 

Mrs. Douglas — will be her faithful attendant, who will 
hold out a good example to all servants, male and female, and 
to all people in subjection. 

Obedience and gratitude 

Are things as rare as they are good. 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 427 


. . . Conclusion at half past ten, in order that every specta¬ 
tor may go home at a sober hour, and reflect upon what he has 
seen before he retires to rest. 


Considerable ingenuity was exercised, also, in 
remodelling Garrick’s farce of “ Lethe ” into 
a satirical lecture called “ Lethe or dEsop in the 
Shades ” pronounced by Mr. Watts and Mr. 
and Mrs. Solomon. Otway’s “ Venice Preserved ” 
w’as announced as a moral lecture in five parts, 
“ in which the dreadful effects of conspiracy 
will be exemplified.” “Romeo and Juliet” and 
“ Hamlet ” were similarly masked and mangled. 

On October 5, growing a bit more bold, “ the 
pernicious tendency of libertinism exemplified 
in the tragical history of George Barnwell or 
the London Merchant ” was presented, — still 
as a moral lecture, and delivered by Messrs. 
Harper, Morris, Watts, Murray, Solomon, Red- 
field, Miss Smith, Mrs. Solomon and Mrs. 
Gray. Obviously this was a play with a good 
sized cast. The aid of the law must be invoked 
to suppress it! The first attempt to do this failed, 
and performances continued to be given at 
intervals of two or three days. On November 9, 
Garrick’s garbled version of the “ Taming Of 
the Shrew ” under the name of “ Catherine and 
Petruchio ” was presented; on the 30th “ Ham¬ 
let ” was given with Charles Stuart Powell in 
the title character, and on December the third 


428 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the same actor assumed the leading role in 
“ Richard HI.” 

Then the blow fell. During a performance 
of “ The Rivals,” on December 5, Harper was 
arrested by Sheriff Allen, at the end of the first 
act, for violating the law against theatrical 
presentations. The audience, which was com¬ 
posed largely of young men, were disposed to be 
resentful at this treatment of their favorite and 
proceeded to tear down the seal of the United 
States from the proscenium arch and to cut into 
pieces the portrait of Governor Hancock whose 
hand was seen to be behind the arrest. Strong 
action this to be taken by the descendants of 
the “Sons of Liberty!” Only when Harper 
was admitted to bail would they disperse, and 
then they assembled at the hearing the follow¬ 
ing day in Faneuil Hall. This time Harrison 
Gray Otis was on the side of play-acting and 
secured a dismissal of Harper on the technical 
ground of illegality in the warrant of arrest. 
Hancock’s opposition did not slacken, however, 
and in a subsequent session of the legislature 
he alluded to the theatrical row as “an open 
assault upon the laws and government of the 
Commonweal th. ” 

Royal Tyler, afterward chief justice of Ver¬ 
mont, wrote a play about this time, which was 
called “ The Contrast ” and which is interesting 
as the first American play ever produced by a 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 429 

regular company of comedians. It was originally 
given in New York April 16, 1790, but it had a 
performance in the New Exhibition Room, — 
the last of any note there to be given. For in the 
spring of 1793 the theatre was taken down and 
a movement initiated for the promotion of a 
playhouse on a larger scale. Subscribers to the 
project were found without difficulty among 
many of the best people, in spite of the opposition 
of Samuel Adams who in 1794 succeeded Han¬ 
cock as governor and who, though he felt himself 
in ordinary matters to be simply an executive 
officer, stood out stubbornly as long as he lived 
against the popular desire for theatrical enter¬ 
tainments. 

The new theatre was located at the corner of 
Federal and Franklin Streets and with its 
opening on February 3, 1794, the dramatic 
history of Boston may be properly said to have 
begun. It was called the Boston Theatre and 
was under the management of Charles Stuart 
Powell and Baker. It had been erected from the 
plans of Charles Bulfinch, then a young man, and 
a contemporary thus describes it: 

“ It was one hundred and forty feet long, 
sixty-two feet wide, forty feet high; a lofty and 
spacious edifice built of brick, with stone facings, 
iron posts and pillars. The entrances to the 
different parts of the house were distinct. In 
the front there was a projecting arcade which 


430 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

enabled carriages to land company under cover. 
After alighting at the main entrance, they 
passed through an elegant saloon to the stair¬ 
cases leading to the back of the boxes. The pit 
and gallery had separate entrances on the sides. 

“ The interior was circular in form, the ceiling 



THE BOSTON THEATRE ON FEDERAL STREET 


composed of elliptical arches resting on Corin¬ 
thian pillars. There were two rows of boxes, 
the second suspended by invisible means. The 
stage opening was thirty-one feet wide, orna¬ 
mented on either side by two columns, between 
which was a stage door opening on a projecting 
iron balcony. Above the columns a cornice and 
a balustrade were carried over the stage opening; 








OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 431 

above these was painted a flow of crimson 
drapery and the arms of the United States and 
the commonwealth blended with emblems tragic 
and comic. A ribbon depending from the arms 
bore the motto, ‘ All the world’s a stage.’ 

“ The boxes were hung with crimson silk, 
and their balustrades gilded; the walls were 
tinted azure, and the columns and fronts of the 
boxes straw and lilac. At the end of the building 
was a noble and elegant dancing pavilion, richly 
ornamented with Corinthian columns and pilas¬ 
ters. There were also spacious card and tea 
rooms, and kitchens with the proper conve¬ 
niences.” 

None of our present theatres can boast such 
conveniences, nor can they approach the state 
and ceremony observed in a performance of 
1793. The “ guests ” were met by a bewigged 
and bepowdered master of ceremonies, and 
escorted to their boxes. Thence, however, they 
saw the performance but dimly in the feeble 
light of candles or the more objectionable, 
smoky illumination of whale oil lamps. More¬ 
over, they might freeze in winter for all the 
effective heating apparatus provided. Perhaps 
it was to keep warm that the gallery gods threw 
things; certainly the orchestra was constrained 
to insert a card in the newspaper requesting the 
audience to be more restrained in the matter of 
pelting the musicians with apple cores and or- 


432 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

anges. The music, by the way, was of a high 
standard, Reinagh of Philadelphia being director. 
In short, the Boston was conceded to be the fin¬ 
est theatre in the country at the time. 

It was a losing venture at first and at the end 
of the second season Powell retired in disgust 
and bankruptcy. He chose to consider himself 
a much injured person and his adherents rallied 
round him and his project for a new theatre. 
It was felt that the managers of the Boston, who 
were Federalists, had been using their play¬ 
house to offend their political opponents, the 
Jacobins. 

So Charles Stuart Powell and the Jacobins 
of Boston set about erecting a new playhouse. 
A lot about where now stands the present 
Tremont Theatre was purchased, and “ The 
Haymarket ” came into existence. It was plain 
on the exterior, but capacious and elegant inside, 
and its proprietors looked to the speedy over¬ 
throw of the Boston. 

On the 26th of December, 1796, “ The Hay- 
market ” opened, and for a time pushed the 
Boston hard in the race for supremacy. For a 
time the outcome was doubtful. Both houses 
were bringing out great attractions and both 
losing a great deal of money. The proprietors 
of the Boston could stand the loss; their rivals 
could not, and at the end of a few seasons the 
Haymarket was abandoned. In 1803 the build- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 433 

ing was razed, and for the next twenty years the 
Boston was unrivalled. 

One interesting character connected with the 
early history of the theatre on Federal Street 
was Mrs. Susanna Rowson, who is, however, 
better known as the author of “ Charlotte 
Temple,” and as the teacher of a famous private 
school than as an actress. Her career is full of 
color. She was born in Portsmouth, England, 
in 1762, the daughter of Lieutenant William 
Haswell of the British Navy, and, when four 
years old, was brought to Hull, in Boston 
Harbor, where her father was stationed as a 
British revenue officer for the port of Boston. 

Notwithstanding her rude environment, (Hull 
was, at the time, a village of one hundred and 
fifty inhabitants) the mental training that Susanna 
received within the family circle was such that 
at the age of ten she was reading Virgil, Homer 
and Shakespeare, to the amazement of the 
patriot, James Otis, a neighbor and constant 
visitor at the house. 

From Telegraph hill, behind the house, 
Susanna heard and saw the battle of Bunker 
Hill, which signified to her father that he could 
no longer remain neutral in the contest, as he 
had until that period. Already the entire popu¬ 
lation of Hull, save the Haswell family, had 
emigrated inland, to avoid the depredations of 
the British. 


434 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

A month after Bunker Hill the women of the 
family were frightened half out of their wits by 
a visit of three companies of continentals from 
Hingham, who embarked in boats at Hull, 
proceeded to Boston light and burned it, in 
order to embarrass British shipping as much as 
possible. Susanna saw the British rebuild the 
lighthouse, and the Yankees soon afterward put 
off again and killed or captured everybody en¬ 
gaged in repairing and maintaining the light, 
a sharp engagement taking place, in which a 
British boat was sunk by a cannon shot from 
the hill above the Haswell house. One of the 
wounded British soldiers was brought ashore 
by the Americans and died the same night in the 
Haswell house, Susanna and her father burying 
him in their garden the next morning. 

As Lieutenant Haswell refused to join the 
American cause, he and his family were removed 
to Hingham, kept under guard and supported 
as town charges for two years. He was finally 
released on parole and returned with his family 
to England, where Susanna became governess 
in a noble family, and in that capacity made a 
tour of Europe. 

In 1786, her father having become incapaci¬ 
tated for service, Susanna married, for a home, 
William Rowson, a man much older than her¬ 
self, who had a comfortable fortune, though he 
lost it soon afterward. It was then that she 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 435 


embarked in literature, with such success that 
the regent, afterward George IV, pensioned her 
father. 

Her book, “ Charlotte Temple,” on which 
her fame chiefly rests, was written in 1790, and 
was represented by her as a true story, Charlotte 
Temple having been a daughter of the earl of 
Derby, head of one of the proudest families in 
England, while Montraville, the hero, or villain, 
whichever one may choose to call him, was really 
Colonel John Montressor, her father’s most 
intimate friend in America, for whom one of 
Susanna’s brothers was named. 

Montressor was with General Gage in Boston 
during the early days of the Revolution, and was 
the engineer who planned the various local 
fortifications before and during the siege of this 
town. The book had the most prodigious circu¬ 
lation ever known in America up to that time and 
it has been several times republished since. 

In 1793 Mr. and Mrs. Rowson went on the 
stage, and 1796 found them in the company at 
the Federal Street theatre in this city. Tiring of 
this profession Mrs. Rowson, a year later, opened 
a boarding-school for young ladies in Federal 
Street and, though the prejudice against her as 
an actress was strong at first, she soon proved 
her aptitude for her new vocation so unmis¬ 
takably that her school became the most popu¬ 
lar one in New England, 


436 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


She later removed it to the old Timothy Bige¬ 
low estate, Medford; in 1803 went to live in 
Newton; in 1807 had a home on the site later 
identified with the Washington market at the 
South End, and in 1809 resided on Hollis 
Street. 

In her latter years Mrs. Rowson was editor 
successively of the Boston Weekly Magazine and 
the New England Galaxy. She died in 1824 
at the age of sixty-three, and was buried under 
St. Matthew’s Church in South Boston, though 
she had been a member of Trinity. Afterward 
her remains were transferred to Mt. Hope. But 
though her own grave is thus obscurely located, 
that of Charlotte Temple, her most famous 
heroine, is a favorite shrine for tourists the place 
where she lies being almost as much sought after 
as that of Elizabeth Whitman, — of somewhat 
similar history, — in the old burying ground 
at Peabody, Massachusetts. 1 

In “ A Record of the Boston Stage,” written 
by William W. Clapp, Jr., in the middle of the 
last century, may be found hundreds of interest¬ 
ing stories about the theatrical ups and downs 
of the playhouse on Federal street. The critics 
of that day were as severe in their denunciations 
as they were fulsome in their praise and even at 
this distance of time we feel a thrill of pity for 
the young woman of whom one knight of the 

t 1 See “ Romance of Old New England Churches.”] 



THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE, ABOUT 1800 
Page 437 











r 




THE MOTHER OF EDGAR ALLAN" POE. MRS. ROWSON. 

Page 446 Page 433 










OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 437 

pen wrote that she had neither face, nor form, 
nor voice nor action, in short “ no one talent for 
the profession she has usurped.” And then, 
dropping like Mr. Wegg into poetry, he adds, 

“ When to enforce some very tender part, 

The right hand sleeps by instinct on the heart 
The soul of every other thought bereft, 

Seems anxious only where to place the left.” 

On one occasion an actor who, when not in 
the bill, served as house manager, was very 
much disturbed, — though supposed to be 
Romeo and dead, — by the ringing of bells 
near by. With one eye and his subconscious 
mind he perceived that the audience was taking 
alarm at the sound, — fearing fire, in their 
midst. So, interrupting Juliet’s lamentations, 
he sat up and said: “ Ladies and gentlemen, 
do not be alarmed. I assure you that it is only 
the Old South Bell.” 

At this time, by the by, there was never a 
theatrical performance in the Boston on eve¬ 
nings when religious services were held at Rev. 
Dr. Belknap’s church, on the same street. When 
Washington died, in December, 1799, the theatre 
remained closed a week and, on January 10, 
1800, the day of public mourning in Boston, 
there was here presented “ a Monody on the 
Death of General Washington ” against a 
background hung all in black. 


438 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

John Bernard, who has written a very enter¬ 
taining book of theatrical gossip called “ Retro¬ 
spections of America ” was an actor and subse¬ 
quently a manager at Federal Street, and early 
in the nineteenth century there was introduced 
to Boston through him the Honorable Mrs. 
Twisleton, afterwards Mrs. Stanley, the first 
of a long line of “ society actresses.” 

At this house in 1809 appeared the first 
native-born actor to gain distinguished recogni¬ 
tion at home and abroad, — John Howard 
Payne, the author of “ Home Sweet Home,” 
then but eighteen years old. It was directly 
before this that Master Betty, as young Roscius., 
made a tremendous sensation in England and 
his success was just the spark for Payne’s ambi¬ 
tion. 

Payne was the son of a Boston schoolmaster 
“ and a perfect Cupid in his beauty.” His 
career is striking enough to deserve attention, 
from its bright beginning to its tragic end. In¬ 
deed, if I were in search of an American about 
whom to build an historical novel of extraordi¬ 
nary and compelling interest, I should select 
John Howard Payne. For this man was a part 
of all that he met; there was nothing of novelty 
and adventure in his day in which he failed to 
have a stake. Yet he is remembered only as 
the writer of a song which earned a fortune for 
his publishers, but for which he received, during 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 439 

his lifetime, scarcely any cash and very little 
credit. 

Payne was born in New York City June 9, 
1782, the sixth child in a family of nine. His 
precocity was wonderful — aggravated no doubt 
by the fact that during his most impressionable 
childhood years he lived in Boston, whither 
his father had removed to take charge of an 
academy. The most notable incident in the 
lad’s Boston residence was his formation of a 
military company, which paraded on the Com¬ 
mon and to which John C. Palfrey, afterward 
the historian, and Samuel Woodworth, who 
became the author of “ The Old Oaken Bucket,” 
belonged. Payne was assistant editor at this 
time, too, of a child’s paper called The Fly, of 
which Woodworth was editor in chief. 

When the gifted lad was thirteen, however, 
he solemnly put away childish things and went 
back to New York to act as clerk in a counting- 
house. While filling this humble position he 
interested himself deeply in things dramatic, 
possibly in emulation of Charles Lamb, and 
edited the Thespian Mirror. This occupation, as 
it fell out, brought him the turn in his tide of 
luck. For one day the Evening Post reprinted 
from the Mirror a piece of critical writing so 
remarkable that the Post’s editor, Mr. Coleman, 
could scarcely believe it to have been the product 
of a lad of fourteen. When convinced, however, 


440 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

that such was the case, he hunted up young 
Payne and insisted upon sending him to college. 

The institution of learning selected was Union 
College, New York. But even in his student 
days this lad could not leave journalism alone, 
and during the two terms that he spent here he 
edited twenty-five numbers of a periodical called 
The Pastime. Then, his father dying, he left 
his books for a stage career, making his first 
appearance as an actor either in the Park Thea¬ 
ter, New York, or in the old Federal Street 
Theatre, Boston, according to which historian 
you decide to believe. Wherever he played he 
was received with the greatest enthusiasm. For 
he added to considerable ability as an actor a 
wonderfully attractive personality. Nature had 
bestowed upon him a countenance of no common 
order: a face round and fair, with eyes that 
glowed with animation and intelligence. Payne’s 
face, in truth, was an index of his character in 
that it contained an extraordinary mixture of 
strength and weakness. In London and in the 
provinces this gifted man enacted his ‘ Young 
Norval ” with unbounded success, winning the 
most delighted plaudits wherever he appeared. 
William W. Corcoran (founder of the Corcoran 
Art Gallery, Washington) saw Payne in this 
part when he (Corcoran) was a lad of only 
eleven, and he never forgot the impression the 
actor made upon him. More, he remembered 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 441 


so well that, as we shall see, he did for Payne 
what no one else in all the world had thought 
of doing. 



JOHN HOWARD PAYNE, AS “YOUNG NORVAL” 


As a playwright, no less than as an actor, 
Payne was a great success. The popularity of 
his “ Brutus,” as given by Edmund Kean, was 
so great that the play had to be “ set up ” by 



442 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the “ Romans,” themselves turned compositors 
for the occasion and working an improvised 
printing press under the stage. “ Charles II,” 
too, was played many times with great success 
by Charles Kemble. 

Yet only “ Home, Sweet Home,” written to 
be sung in “ Clari, the Maid of Milan,” an 
adaptation from the French, lives. This song 
was turned off in a rush order on a dull October 
day in 1823, to be used in a play which, with two 
others, Payne had sold to Charles Kemble for 
two hundred and fifty pounds. Undoubtedly 
the song was the outpouring of all that was best 
in this man who himself had now no home; the 
cry from the inmost depths of a deeply sensitive 
soul. For this reason it is that the song finds 
such sympathetic response in so many other 
hearts and is so tenderly soothing withal. The 
particular house Payne described in his verses 
was the old home of his family in Easthampton, 
Long Island. It has been well said that the sight 
of this house is the best assurance anywhere 
obtainable that the sentiment of “ Home, Sweet 
Home ” is absolutely true. 

Of course the song was a success. More than 
one hundred thousand copies of it were sold by 
the publishers within a year of its first appear¬ 
ance. But Payne was not only cheated out of 
the twenty-five pounds he was to have on the 
twentieth night of his play, but his name failed 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 443 

as well to appear on the title page of the song. 
This w r as, however, only one of the many little 
ironies with which our composer’s career was so 
liberally punctuated. 

Washington Irving had long been one of 
Payne’s warm friends, and through him, aided 
by Daniel Webster, then secretary of state, the 
actor-author was in 1842 given a consulship in 
Tunis. Now Payne was really happy. For 
though he worked faithfully enough for the 
government, he had still leisure for literary 
pursuits, and he hoped to end his days in this 
post, discharging its easy duties and poking 
about for book material. James K. Polk, how¬ 
ever, had a friend of his own for whom he 
wanted the Tunis post, and in 1846 the consul 
there was recalled by him. Payne came back, 
but this time he was determined to fight for what 
he coveted, and he enlisted the support of such 
strong politicians that, after six years of struggle, 
he succeeded in getting back his consulship. 
Meanwhile, however, he was being liberally 
honored as the composer of “ Home, Sweet 
Home.” For once, when he was in the theatre 
at Washington, Jenny Lind turned directly 
to him and sang the sweet, sad song. The very 
next year after he secured once more the post 
for which he had fought such a good fight, John 
Howard Payne passed away in Tunis, dying as 
he had lived, homeless, on the distant shore of 


444 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

the Mediterranean. His mortal remains lay long 
in the burning sands of far-away Morocco, and 
even now a monument to him stands in the 
cemetery of St. George there. 

But in 1883 (you see we are going far ahead 
of our story in order to finish Payne’s career) 
William W. Corcoran, in answer to Payne’s death¬ 
less plea for home, and out of gratitude to the 
actor who had stirred him when he was a boy, 
had Payne’s remains disinterred and brought 
back to this countiy. Thus it came about that 
the lad who had thrilled all his auditors in the 
old Boston Theatre, when a youth of eighteen, 
was, on the ninety-second anniversary of his 
birth, buried in Oak Cemetery, Washington, in 
the presence of a very distinguished company, 
including the president of the United States. 
As his ashes were lowered into the grave a large 
and reverent chorus sang his immortal song of 
Home. 

Some years ago, there turned up for auction 
sale in Philadelphia a lot of letters which are 
said to shed light upon the hitherto unknown 
love of Payne’s life. The lady in the case appears 
to have been no less a person than Mary Woll- 
stonecraft Shelley! But to her he paid his court 
in vain, for she remained ever devoted to the 
memory of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, 
the famous English poet. 

With a famous American poet, — Edgar Allan 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 445 


Poe, — the history of the Federal Street Theatre 
during this period must now be associated. For 
his father and mother were playing there the 
winter that he was born. For a long time it 
was not known just where, in Boston, their 
famous child first saw the light but, through the 
painstaking research of Walter Kendall Watkins, 
the house wdiere the young couple were living 
on January 19, 1809, has now been fixed as on 
Carver, 1 then Haskins Street, the number of the 
dwelling being 62. With Mr. Watkins’s per¬ 
mission I here give a part of his contribution to 
the matter. 

“ Poe’s birthplace has plausibly been supposed 
to be in the vicinity of the Boston Theatre on 
Federal Street. James Dickson, the comedian 
and manager of the theatre, lived at 25 Federal 
street. His partner Snelling Powell, the come¬ 
dian lived in Theatre Alley. Catherine Butler’s 
boarding-house at 30 Federal street was also 
the resort of actors. . . . David Poe, however, 
was living, in 1808, at the house on the east side 
of Haskins, later Carver, street owned by Henry 
Haviland, a stucco worker, and in which resided 
Haviland, Daniel Grover an actor, Joshua 
Barrett, ropemaker, Moses Andrew ropemaker 
and John Hildreth.” 

Mrs. Poe had been Elizabeth Arnold, a 

1 There is, however, a possibility that the poet was born at 33 
Hollis Street, that being the address of his father on the Boston tax 
records for 1808. 


446 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

beautiful and talented English actress when, in 
the course of a southern tour, she met David Poe, 
a handsome young law student of Baltimore and 
married him. He seems to have made a mis¬ 
take in abandoning his profession for hers, as 
he did after their marriage; there is no evidence 
whatever that he had any talent for the stage. 
But she was very popular with her audiences, 
and the records show that, though she played 
many parts, she was acceptable in almost all of 
them. 

“ The first appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Poe 
at the Boston Theatre,” says Mr. Watkins, 
“ was on October 13,1806 in ‘ Speed the Plough,’ 
a five act comedy by Thomas Morton. . . . On 
April 20,1807, Mr. Poe received a benefit where 
there was given for the first time in Boston, a 
three act comedy by John O’Keefe, a prolific 
farce-writer, entitled, ‘ The Lie of the Day.’ 
In this Mrs. Poe was Sophie and afterwards 
favored the audience with a hornpipe. . . . 
Easter Monday, 1808, the Bostonians witnessed 
Schiller’s ‘ Robbers ’ dramatized by John Hodg- 
kinson, a former manager of the Boston Thea¬ 
tre. Amelia was played by Mrs. Poe. On the 
same evening she was also Ella in ‘ Ella Rosen- 
burg’ by James Kenney. ... In the fall of 
1808 Mr. and Mrs. Poe appeared together in 
‘ More Ways Than One.’ ... In the serio¬ 
comic burletta, ‘ Life And Death or Tom 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 447 

Thumb the Great ’ Mrs. Poe impersonated 
Queen Dellabolla. ‘ King Lear ’ was acted by 
Fennell, supported by Mrs. Poe as Cordelia and 
during the evening she gave a favorite song, 

‘ Nobody coming to marry me/ . . . On No¬ 
vember 14,1808 she sang ‘ Just like love is yonder 
Rose ’ in the play of ‘ More Ways Than One * 
and on November 28, appeared as Lydia in 
‘ The Sixty-third Letter,’ a musical afterpiece.” 

Believers in pre-natal influences may find in 
the extraordinary jumble of fictitious characters, 
— and there were many more than I have 
mentioned, — with which Poe’s mother was 
burdening her brain at this time a hint as to the 
source of that uncanny and elusive gift which 
Poe’s critics have sought in vain to explain by 
any of the experiences in the poet’s own life. 
Mrs. Poe appears to have done her hard duty 
before the public up to the last possible moment. 
And that she lost no time in getting back to the 
task by which she and her babe were to live we 
see from this notice in the Boston Gazette of 
February 9, 1809: “ We congratulate the fre¬ 
quenters of the Theatre on the recovery of Mrs. 
Poe from her recent confinement. This charm¬ 
ing little actress will make her reappearance 
tomorrow evening as Rosamunda in the popular 
play of ‘ Abaellino, the Great Bandit,’ a part 
peculiarly adapted to her figure and talents.” 
She had been out of the bill less than ten weeks! 


448 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


Within two years both parents of the new-born 
babe were dead, victims of consumption. 

About this time the taste of Bostonians for 
spectacular productions began first to evince 
itself. “ Tekeli,” brought out in 1809, had suc¬ 
ceeded measurably, and “ The Forty Thieves ” 
was accordingly announced as “ in preparation.” 
In order to bring it out with fine effect the theatre 
was closed for the ten days previously and, on 
March 12, 1810, the spectacle was produced, in 
a style of magnificence which has scarcely been 
equalled since. The receipts for the first night 
were nine hundred and eight dollars and thirty- 
seven cents, and the amount received for nine 
successive performances was six thousand six 
hundred and forty-seven dollars and twelve 
cents, — a very large sum for those days. The 
play had a good run for many seasons. 

An interesting “ star ” at the Boston Theatre 
during 1810-1811 was Mrs. Duff, a woman of 
rare beauty and some talent. Before her mar¬ 
riage she had been Miss Dyke, and Tom Moore’s 
first wife was her sister. It is said that the poet’s 
song, “ Mary, I believe thee true,” was addressed 
to her. George Frederick Cooke was another 
character then cast in the company at the 
Boston. Once at a private party in the city 
Cooke was asked what was the most beautiful 
passage he had ever read, the presumption being, 
of course, that he would quote something from 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 449 

Shakespeare. But he replied by calling for a 
Bible and turned to “ St Paul’s Defence at the 
Tribunal of King Agrippa,” which he proceeded 
to read from beginning to end in a most ex¬ 
quisite manner. Cooke was a hard drinker and, 
as a result, was often incapacitated, when cast 
for a leading part. On one occasion he found 
himself on the stage in such condition that his 
lines would not come. So laying his hand com¬ 
ically against his cheek, he said, making a wry 
face which he accompanied with a grotesque 
bow: “ Ladies and gentlemen, my old complaint, 
— my old complaint,” and made his exit amid 
shouts of laughter. 

The war of 1812 had its effect, as might be 
supposed, upon the audiences at the Boston 
Theatre. But performances went on just the 
same, the prices being: boxes, one dollar; green 
boxes, seventy-five cents; pit, fifty cents; gallery 
thirty-seven and one-half cents. During the 
progress of the war the spirits of those who 
attended the theatre were kept up by frequent 
productions of pieces in honor of our naval 
victories. On October 2, following the capture 
of the “ Guerriere ” by the American frigate 
“ Constitution,” a patriotic effusion on the 
encounter was given w T ith great success. This 
piece and others of its kind had little incident 
and less connected plot, but consisted of songs 
and dances, interspersed with patriotic dialogues. 


450 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

Of course, coming after an epoch-making victory, 
they “ took ” like wildfire. 

While the Boston Theatre was thus pursuing 
its course with greater or less profit, according 
to the times, circuses and other entertainments 
of that ilk were slowly coming to the fore. 
Washington Gardens, which stood in the rear 
of what is now St. Paul’s Church, was one of 
the earliest and best-known of the open-air 
theatres. Here in 1815 Mrs. Mestayer astonished 
spectators by “ dancing on the wire,” she being 
the first lady to trust herself, in Boston, to so 
slight and brittle a footing. One advertisement, 
taken from the Gazette of November 30, 1815, 
gives an interesting side light on the progress 
of things at the Boylston Museum: “ The Gas- 
Lights, which are to be exhibited at the Boylston 
Museum this evening (Thanksgiving) will be 
an interesting curiosity to those who are unac¬ 
quainted with chemistry, as the lights will be 
burnt upwards of one hundred feet from the 
reservoir which contains the gas, without the 
aid of tallow, oil or wick. We understand that 
the streets of London are lighted with this gas 
in various directions for upwards of fifteen 
miles.” 

At the Boston Theatre in the fall of 1816 
“ Guy Mannering ” was brought out for the 
first time. In the season of 1817-1818 there was 
a good company there which included an Eng- 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 451 

lishman named Incledon, a singer of great merit 
and a friend of Pope the tragedian. Pope had a 
great love for the good things of life; he is said 
to have declared that no crime which a man 
could commit is comparable in enormity to that 
of peppering a rump steak. When Incledon 
returned from America, — soon after the close 
of the War of 1812, — his old friend sought him 
out and, when greetings had been exchanged, 
asked eagerly, “ Well, Charles, and how do 
they feed ? ” 

“ Immortally,” answered Incledon, “ the very 
poetry of eating and drinking, my dear Pope, 
in all things but one — they put no oil on their 
salads.” 

“ No oil to their salads! ” reiterated the horror- 
stricken tragedian. “ Why did we ever make 
peace with them ? ” 

Incledon was quite eccentric and, on one 
occasion, soon after the death of his first wife 
(to whom he had been warmly attached), after 
travelling for some time in a coach beside a 
consumptive looking man he took leave of his 
neighbor in the following reassuring fashion: 
“My poor fellow, you’re bespoke; you’re now, 
I take it, as good as ready money to the under¬ 
taker. If you see my dear sainted Jane pray 
tell her you saw me and that I’m well.” 

The first of the Wallacks to play in Boston 
was James, and he made his debut in the town 


452 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 


the very year, as it happens, that his famous son, 
Lester Wallack was born. His career, — previ¬ 
ous to his opening at the Federal Street Theatre, 


THEATRE. 

Mr.WALL.ACK, 

FOR TWO WEEKS. 


• # *On account of Thanksgiving, and the Rev. Mr. Cmannino’s Lecture falling on Thursday 
next, ibe Evening! of Performance, for this week, will be 

MONDAY. TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY. 

*Mr. Wallack’s Second JVight. 


THIS EVENING. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 1818, 

Will be performed. SHAKESPEARE'S celebrated TRAGEDV, ie See acta, called 

MACBETH. 


The Original Jin and Chonaeet, competed by Mathew Locke. 


Macbeth, « 

Macduff, * . 

Malcolm, • • 

Duncan, • « 

Ban quo, . • < 

Lady Macbeth, 
Hecate, 
Speaking Witcher, 


- Mr. Wallack. 

• Mr. Oreen. 

• Mr. Williame. 

• Mr. Wheatley. 

• Mr. Price. 
Mra. Powell. 


Fleance, . . . 

Lenox, . • 

8eytoo, - . . 

Bleeding Captain, 
Officer, . . . 

Gentle woman. 


. . Miaa Clark*. 

. . Mr. Pelby. 

• « Mr. Adame. 

• • Mr. Spooner. 

• - Mr. Joaee. 

• Mra. Pelby. 

• • . Mr. Holland. 

Meaara. Bernard, Bray, aad Mra. Bane*. 


Principal Vocal Partt by 

Mceara. Keene, Bray, Bernard, Holland, Xonee, 4c.Mra. Duff, Mra. Oreen, Mra. Berner, Mra. Bray, Mra. Pelby,Mia* 

loots, and Miaa Clark. 


Te which will be added, the favorite Mutieal Afterpiece, in two acta, called IM 

HIVE, 

OR....SOLDIERS RETURN. 

Rattan.Mr. Duff. : Mingle,.Mr. Bray. 

Captain Merten, .... Mr. William!. I foe, ....... Mr. Adamren. 

Emily, .... Mra. William*. S 

Cicely, ... Mra. Pelby. Z Mm. Mingle, • • Mm. Bunt*. 

in tb* cmru of th* Pin*, thefoUoulmg Bong*. 

SOHO...."March.’ March Aimj, Helen!" ........ Mr. DUFF. 

SONG...." Height / Beigho .Mr*. PELBY. 

CO Mil! HON &....“ion of a Married Life," ...... Mr. BEAT. 

FINALE...." TVamblet O’er, Joy’* in Store." . ....... 


Tomorrow Evening, (Wednesday,) the MOUNTAINEERS.. .Octavlan, Mr. Wallace. 


bee 


November 30, 1818, as “ Rolla,”—had been 
full of incident. He was originally destined for 
a career in the navy; but Richard Brinsley 




























OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 453 

Sheridan happening to see him act in amateur 
theatricals, when he was twelve, and being 
struck with his promise, procured an auspicious 
engagement for him at the Drury Lane 
Theatre. 

The year 1820 witnessed the arrival on our 
shores of perhaps the first really great actor so 
far mentioned, however, — Edmund Kean. 
Kean’s career reads like a romance. His mother 
was an actor’s daughter, and though her husband 
was another Edmund Kean, the tragedian pre¬ 
ferred to believe that the Duke of Norfolk was 
his father. Mrs. Kean having more or less 
to do with the stage, her child was always about 
the theatre and when John Philip Kemble con¬ 
ceived the idea of infant imps around the witches’ 
cauldron in “ Macbeth,” the Kean child was 
one of the imps. To heighten the illusion Kean 
insisted upon tripping up his fellow-imps in the 
play, and when Kemble remonstrated with him 
he explained that he had “ never before appeared 
in tragedy.” His mother took no care whatever 
of him and to Miss Tisdale, an actress whom he 
had been taught to regard as his aunt, he was 
indebted for the only training he ever had. From 
school he ran away to join a circus, but during 
the performance he fell and fractured both 
legs, an accident which caused his gait to be 
exceedingly awkward all his life. Once during 
this Wanderjahre period he had no clothes what- 


454 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

ever and no money with which to buy food. A 
bundle of garments sent him by Miss Tisdale 
was accordingly pawned; he explained the 
transaction by saying: “for better security my 
aunt’s parcel was consigned to the charge of 
‘ my uncle.’ ” 

Kean’s first real chance came when he was 
playing Shylock in London, an engagement he 
had secured after great vicissitudes of fortune. 
The thing went tamely enough until the lines: 


“The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient;—three thousand 
ducats, I think I may take this bond. 

“ Bassanio. — Be assured you may. 

“ Shylock. — I will be assured I may; and that I may be as¬ 
sured I will bethink me.” 

“ I will be assured,” was a new point — it 
moved the audience; and “ then,” as Kean 
afterwards expressed it, “ then, indeed, I felt, 
I knew, I had them with me! ” That night began 
his splendid career of triumph. There is not 
space here even to indicate the glories of it, for 
we must proceed to describe his very inglorious 
adventures in Boston, where he first opened 
February 12, 1821, as “ Richard ” before a 
house crowded to the doors. His acting was the 
all-engrossing topic of fashionable discussion, 
and he became the lion of the day. He appeared 
as “ Lear,” as “ Hamlet,” — and as “ Brutus ” 
in Payne’s play of that name to which reference 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 455 

has already been made. Great pressure was 
brought to bear upon him to prolong his engage¬ 
ment, which had been for a strictly limited num¬ 
ber of performances, but he was booked for con¬ 
tracts elsewhere and so had to leave, though 
regretfully, what he styled in his curtain speech 
on the last night, as “ the Literary Emporium 
of the New World.” 

The story of his return is not so splendid a 
page of Boston’s theatrical history. It was late 
in May, 1821, and the manager, Mr. Dickson, 
had endeavored to discourage his coming be¬ 
cause it was the dull season and many Boston 
folk would be out of town. Kean replied that 
he could draw at any time and he came, opening 
May 23 as “ Lear ” to a fair house. The second 
night the house was slim and for the third, when 
he was billed as “ Richard III ” there was, 
early in the evening, so small a crowd, that 
surveying it, he refused to prepare for the per¬ 
formance and left in a rage for his hotel. 

Scarcely had he gone when the boxes filled 
up, and a messenger was dispatched to bring 
him back. But he declined to come and the 
manager was obliged to explain that his star’s 
refusal to appear was for want of patronage. 
Of course those present were not pleased and 
the newspapers had a great deal to say, next day, 
about the way the tragedian had treated his 
public. Accounts of the affair spread to New 


456 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 

York and Kean feared a riot. So he published 
in the New York National Advocate a letter in 
which he endeavored to justify himself* at the 
expense of Boston audiences. “ My advisers 
never intimated to me,” he caustically observed, 
“ that the theatres were only visited during 
certain months of the year; that when curiosity 
had subsided dramatic talent was not in estima¬ 
tion. But I am now convinced,” he concluded 
“ that the fine weather was my chief enemy, and 
shall again resume my station in the Boston 
theatre before I return to England.” But no 
opportunity was made for him to go back to 
Boston, that trip. 

He did not go again for nearly three years, 
indeed, and that Boston was still only a very 
little place is shown by the fact that his offence 
had not then been forgotten. So vividly indeed 
was the affront which he had put upon his 
audience on the previous occasion remembered, 
that there was a shocking riot at the theatre in 
the course of wdiich eight hundred dollars’ worth 
of damage was done to the building, — and Kean 
barely escaped with his life. From every point 
of view the scene was a disgraceful one, but as 
it came when Boston was a city and not during 
its life as the town, — which terminated Decem¬ 
ber 31, 1821, — a description of it does not 
properly belong in this book. Yet I cannot 
refrain from quoting the significant detter in 


OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 457 

which Kean, now thoroughly repentant, apolo¬ 
gized for his previous bad behavior. It marks 
so clearly, as of a far-away time, this actor and 
his public! 

“ To the Editor, Sir, I take the liberty of 
informing the citizens of Boston (through the 
medium of your journal) of my arrival in confi¬ 
dence that liberality and forbearance will gain 
the ascendency over prejudice and cruelty. That 
I have suffered for my errors my loss of fame and 
fortune is too melancholy an illustration. Acting 
from the impulse of irritation, I certainly was 
disrespectful to the Boston public; calm de¬ 
liberation convinces me I was wrong. The 
first step towards the Throne of Mercy is con¬ 
fession — the hope we are taught, forgiveness, 
Man must not expect more than those attributes 
which we offer to God. 

“ Edmund Kean ” 

“ Exchange Coffee House. 

“ Dec. 21, 1825.” 

That, after publishing this, he should have 
been pelted, on the stage, with missiles hard 
and soft, makes one, for a moment, almost 
believe Samuel Adams was right in his feeling 
that Boston would surely degenerate were 
“ stage plays ” allowed to be produced there. 


THE END. 




INDEX 


Adams, Abigail, 41, 151, 153, 
270. 324, 327. 

Adams, Elizabeth Wells, 251, 
264, 265. 

Adams, Hannah, 330. 

Adams, John, 18, 26, 40, 116, 
190, 205, 215, 218, 229, 233, 
235, 256, 259, 260, 270, 277, 
310, 415. 

Adams, John Quincy, 206, 401. 

Adams, Samuel, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 
14, 15, 17, 23, 28, 40, 58, 
74, 78, 117, 122, 133, 135, 217, 
223, 229, 251-268, 274, 277, 
294, 295, 372, 373, 457. 

Agassiz, Louis, 204. 

Amblaud, James, 375. 

Ames, Fisher, 402. 

Amory, Mrs. M. B., 190, 191, 
214. 

Avery, John, 117. 

Andrews, John, 65-107, 154, 
173, 256. 

Andros, Governor, 29. 

Arkwright, Richard, 160. 

Arnold, Elizabeth, 445. 

Attucks, Crispus, 17. 


Ballard, Sam, 120. 
Barrington, Lord, 161. 
Belknap, Jeremy, 121, 328. 
Bell, Archibald, 319. 

Beloe, William, 290, 293. 
Bender, Margaret, 286. 
Bennett, 8. 10. 

Berkeley, Dean, 192. 
Bernard, Governor, 5, 16, 23. 


Bernard, John, 438. 

Bigelow, Horatio, 313. 

Billings, William, 330, 331. 
Blackstone, William, 196. 
Blanchard, Francois, 299, 300, 
302, 305, 307, 308. 

Bolton, Charles Knowles, 43. 
Bonaparte. Prince Jerome, 379. 
Bonner, Peter, 413. 

Boston Common. 8, 46. 60. 68, 
81.89. 96, 175, 186, 189, 196, 
250, 256, 332, 338. 

Boston Gazette, 12. 

Boston Massacre, 17, 57, 113, 
261. 

Boston Port Bill, 29, 30, 37, 40, 

93 

Bowditch, Nathaniel I., 195. 
Bowdoin, Governor James, 185, 
256, 345, 366. 

Bowdoin, Mrs. James, 402. 
Bradstreet, Anne, 313. 

Brattle Street Church, 170. 
Breck, Samuel, 292, 293, 343, 
352, 363. 

Breed Farm, 143. 

Bridgewater, 81. 

British Coffee House, 17. 
Bromfield, Abigail, 205. 

Brown, A. E., 223, 235. 
Bulfinch, Charles, 413, 429. 
Bunker Hill. 143, 374. 

Bunker Hill Monument, 108, 
392. 

Burgoyne, Lady Charlotte, 157, 
162, 163. 

Burgoyne, General John, 143, 



460 


INDEX 


149, 156, 157, 162, 163, 166, 
171, 177. 

Burke, Edmund, 33, 34. 

Burr, Aaron, 230, 232. 

Burr, Thaddeus, 227, 232. 

Bute, Lord, 64. 

Butler, Catherine, 445. 

Byles, Rev. Mather, 48, 49, 98. 
Byles, Rev. Matiier, Jr., 169. 


Cabot, Samuel, 212. 

Caner, Dr. Henry, 169. 
Carpenters’ Hall, 257, 258. 
Carroll, Archbishop, 379. 

Castle William, 16, 21. 
Chastellux, Marquis de, 113, 
343, 362, 389. 

Chardon, Peter, 196. 

Chatham, Earl of, 31, 33, 36, 
158 202 

Christ Church, 109, 122, 169, 
189. 

Church, Dr. Benjamin, 56. 112, 
119, 231, 264. 

Clapp, William W., Jr., 436. 
Clapp, W. W., 313. 

Clark, Rev. Jonas, 118, 122, 225. 
Clarke, Rev. James Freeman, 
361. 

Clarke, Richard, 194, 204. 
Codman, Stephen, 134. 

Coffin, Dr. Nathaniel, 207. 
Conant, Colonel, 122, 129. 
Congress, Continental, 40, 224, 
236, 251, 260. 

Congress, Provincial, 56, 141, 
224. 

Cooke, George Frederick, 448. 
Cooper, Dr. Samuel, 352, 357. 
Copley, John Singleton, 190-214. 
Copps Hill, 174, 175, 286. 
Corcoran, William W., 440, 444. 
Craft, Colonel, 250, 272. 

Craigie, Andrew, 377. 

Crane, Frederick Lincoln, 132. 
Crane, Dr. Phineas Miller, 131. 
Crane, Susan Dwight, 132. 
Cromwell’s Head Inn, 113. 
Cunningham, Andrew, 196. 
Cushing, Thomas, 223, 229, 256. 


“ Dartmouth,” 27. 

Dartmouth College, 319. 
Dartmouth, Lord, 63, 175, 198. 
“ Daughters of Liberty,” 25. 
Dawes, Tom, 116. 

Dean, John Ward,. 379. 

Deane, Charles, 128. 

Deane, Silas, 229. 

Dearborn, General, 184. 

De Fonblanque, 163, 166. 
Derby, Mrs. Richard, 207. 
D’Estaing, Admiral, 336, 337, 
339, 341. 

Devens, Richard, 129. 
Devonshire, Duchess of, 37. 

De Warville, Jean Pierre Bris- 
sot, 353-374. 

Dickson, James, 445, 455. 
Doane, Thomas, 334. 

Draper, Madam, 167, 311. 
Drowne, Shem, 111. 

Duch6, Rev. Mr., 259. 

“ Earl Percy’s Dinner Table,” 
45. 

Eliot, Dr. Andrew, 168, 169. 
Emerson, Rev. William, 177. 
Evelyn, William Glanville, 48. 

Faneuil Hall, 25, 27, 113, 154, 
155, 166, 188, 282, 352. 
Fenno, Charles Jones, 400. 

Flynt, Rev. Josiah, 219. 

Fort Hill, 73, 250, 273. 

Foster, Eleanor, 207. 

Foster, Mrs. John, 330. 

Fox, Charles James, 30, 32-34, 
36, 37, 38, 39, 47. 

Fox, Henry Edward, 47. 
Frankland, Agnes Surriage, 158. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 22, 67, 267, 
311. 

Freeman, Dr. James, 282, 361. 
Frye, Colonel, 87. 

Gage, General, 40, 41, 44, 51, 
54. 56, 61, 75, 86, 87, 88, 101, 
142, 144, 149, 165, 218. 
Gardiner, Robert, 392. 

George III., 15, 30, 33, 36, 160, 
198, 207, 223, 319. 



INDEX 


461 


Gerard, M., 336. 

Gerry, Eldridge, 84, 147, 266. 

Granary Burying Ground, 21, 
295. 

Gratz, Rebecca, 400. 

Green Dragon Tavern, 116, 117, 
120, 126. 

Greene, Gardiner, 45, 210, 294. 

Greene, Mrs. .Gardiner, 210. 

Gridley, Colonel Richard, 147. 

Griffin’s Wharf, 73. 

Haldiman, General, 98. 

Hale, Nathan, 313. 

Haley, Madam, 288-294, 352. 

Hancock, John, 7, 21, 56, 57, 
59, 60, 70, 74, 80, 87, 88, 101, 
117, 121, 133, 135, 141, 189, 
190, 215-250, 275, 277, 281, 
284, 289, 294, 295, 337, 340, 
372, 373, 412, 428. 

Hancock, Rev. John, 219. 

Hancock, Mrs. Lydia, 132, 135, 
221, 226. 

Hancock, Thomas, 221. 

Hancock Tavern, 375, 376. 

Harper, Joseph, 423. 

Harvard College, 25, 289. 

Haswell, Lieutenant William, 
433. 

Hatch, Israel, 416. 

Heath, General, 371. 

Henry, Patrick, 258. 

Hillsborough, Lord, 22, 23. 

Hoffman, Matilda, 400. 

Holden, Oliver, 333. 

Hollis Street Church, 170. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 171, 
220, 297. 

Hosmer, James K., 1, 252. 

Howe, General, 143, 148, 160, 
162, 171, 175. 

Hull, General William, 211. 

Hutchinson, Thomas, 1-4, 14, 
15, 17. 19, 22, 23, 66, 75, 84, 
198, 199, 253, 290, 310. 

Incledon, Charles, 451. 

Inman, Ralph, 9. 

Irving, Washington, 400, 443. 

Izard, Ralph, 200. 


Jackson, Richard, 3. 

Jarvis, Delia, 390. 

Jeffries, Dr. John, 297-309. 
Jeffry, Patrick, 288, 290. 

Jenks, Mary Orne, 125. 

Johnson, Doctor Samuel, 36. 
Joy, Dr. Benjamin, 211. 

Kast, Dr. Thomas, 149. 

Kean, Edmund, 441, 453-457. 
Kemble, Charles, 442. 

Kemble, John Philip, 421, 453. 
King’s Chapel, 169, 189, 282. 
Knowlton, Captain, 143, 181. 

Lafayette, 351-353. 

Lane, Rev. Henry F., 126. 
Lathrop, Rev. John, 320. 

Lee, Colonel, 91. 

Lee, General Charles, 165, 166. 
Lee, R. H., 255, 262, 266. 
Lewis, Lydia Ballard, 119. 
Liberty Tree, 117. 

Lincoln, Colonel Frederick W., 
130. 

Lind, Jenny, 443. 

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 28, 283. 
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 
400. 

Lovell, James, 196. 

Lowell, James Russell, 84. 
Lyndhurst, Baron, 204, 209, 210, 
213. 

Macaulay, 31, 34, 156. 

Mason, Jonathan, 211, 294. 
Massachusetts Historical Soci¬ 
ety, 69, 121, 128, 328. 

Mather, Cotton, 419. 

Mather, Rev. Samuel, 116. 
Melish, John, 417. 

Messinger, Daniel, 379. 

Miller, William Turner, 176. 
Milton, 27, 41. 

“ Mohawks,” 28. 

Monroe, President James, 313, 
414. 

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley 
50. 

Montgomery, General, 182. 



462 


INDEX 


Montressor, Colonel John, 435. 
Moorhead, Rev. Mr., 287. 
Moreau, General, 379. 

Morris, Robert, 381. 

Morton, Thomas, 446. 

Murdock, Harold, 45. 

Newman, Robert, 122. 

North, Lord, 18, 22, 33, 37, 38, 
97. 

Northumberland, Duke of, 63. 

Old Powder House, 82. 

Old South Meeting House. 16, 17, 
20, 27, 57, 58, 72, 157, 170, 
283 315 

Old State House, 17, 18,68, 113, 
270, 271-278, 310, 335. 

Oliver, Thomas, 84, 187. 

Otis, Harrison Gray, 211, 422. 
Otis, Mrs. Harrison Gray, 402. 
Otis, James, 17, 215, 223, 323. 

Paine, Robert Treat, 229, 256. 
Palfrey, John C., 439. 

Parker, Rev. Samuel, 170. 

Park Street Church, 413, 414. 
Parnell, Charles Stewart, 392. 
Parsons, Colonel, 181. 

Parsons, Theophilus, 74. 
Patterson, Elizabeth, 379. 

Payne, John Howard, 335, 438- 
444. 

Pease, Captain Levi, 416. 
Pelham, Charles, 115. 

Pelham, Henry, 113, 114, 115, 
193, 210. 

Pelham, Peter, 192, 193. 
Pepperell, Sir William, 93, 94. 
Percy, Earl, 43-65. 

Perkins, Mrs. James, 403. 
Perkins, Mrs. S. G., 407. 

Perry, Commodore Oliver Haz¬ 
ard, 415. 

Peters, John, 321. 

Phillips, Hon. John. 411. 
Phillips, Wendell, 411. 

Phillips, William, 387. 

Pitcairn, Major John, 49, 141, 
149-151. 


Pitt, William, 30-33, 35, 37, 39. 
Pitts, John, 267. 

Poe, David, 446. 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 444. 

Polk, James K., 443. 

Port, Jane, 257. 

Porter, Edward Griffin, 43. 
Powell, Charles Stuart, 427. 
Powell, Snelling, 445. 

Pratt, Harvey H., 128. 

Prescott, Colonel, 143, 144, 148, 
185. 

Preston, Captain, 17, 18. 
Providence Gazette, 12. 

Province House, 92, 111, 118. 
Pulling, Captain John, Jr., 123- 
128. 

Purviance, Samuel, 236. 
Putnam, General Israel, 144, 
146, 148, 172, 184. 

Putnam, Colonel Rufus, 180. 

Quincy, Edmund, 220, 226. 
Quincy, Henry, 336. 

Quincy, Josiah, 18, 416. 

Quincy, Josiah P., 402. 

Randolph, Peyton, 258. 

Reed, Clifford, 128. 

Reed, Joseph, 179. 

Revere, Joseph, 130. 

Revere, Paul, 54, 108-141, 276. 
Revere, Rachel Walker, 115. 
Revere, Sarah, 115. 

Reynolds, Sir Joshua. 159, 198. 
Riedesel, Baroness, 158. 

Robin, Abb6, 347. 

Rogers, Daniel Denison, 205. 
Rotch, 27, 71, 72. 

Rowe, John, 9. 154. 

Rowson, Susanna, 330, 433-436. 
Ruggles, Hon. Tomothy, 111. 
Russell, Major Benjamin, 312. 

“ St. Botolph’s Town,” 3, 30. 
Sargent, Winthrop, 70. 

Savage, James, 393. 

Scott, Dorothv Quincy Hancock, 
132, 134-136, 215-250, 280, 
296. 



INDEX 463 


Sewall, Samuel, 66, 219. 

Shaw, Francis, 380. 

Shaw, Robert Gould, 386. 

Shaw, Colonel Robert Gould, 
386. 

Shaw, Major Samuel, 380-388. 
Sheaffe, Roger, 47. 

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 
444. 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 444. 
Sherman, Roger, 229. 

Smibert, 192 
“ Sons of Liberty/’ 116. 

Spencer, General, 182. 

Stamp Act, 2, 12, 31. 

Stewart, Commodore John, 392. 
Stiles, President Ezra, 141. 
Stuart, Gilbert, 214, 378. 
Suffolk Resolves, 41. 

Sullivan, General, 178. 

Sullivan, William, 285, 375. 
Sumner, General William H., 
134, 135. 

Swan, James, 211. 

Sylvester, Richard, 253. 

Talleyrand, 375-379. 

Temple, Charlotte, 436. 

Temple, Lady John, 345. 
Thaxter, Sarah, 127. 

Thomas, Isaiah, 311. 

Tileston, John, 110. 

Townshend Acts, 16. 

Tracy, Nathaniel, 340, 341, 342. 
Trinity Church, 169, 170, 279, 
283. 

Trumbull, Colonel John, 196, 
266. 

Tudor, Deacon John, 18, 282, 
288 389 

Tudor, Frederic, 388-400. 

Tudor, William, 329, 393. 
Tudor, Colonel William D., 389- 
392. 

Tudor, Mrs. William D., 346, 
389. 

Turner, Thomas, 60. 


Twisleton, Honorable Mrs., 438. 

Van Berkle, 292. 

Vane, Sir Harry, 30. 

Vassall, William, 45. 

Wales, Mrs. William, 236, 248. 
Wall, Rachel, 286. 

Wallack, James, 451. 

Wallack, Lester, 452. 

Walpole, Horace, 47, 157. 
Walter, Rev. Dr. William, 170. 
Ward, Gen. Artemas, 53, 184. 
Warren, Dr. Joseph, 41, 56, 57, 
59, 100, 121, 122, 128, 141, 
147, 151, 261, 298. 

Warren, Mercy, 25, 215, 323-325, 
327. 

Washington, George, 3, 113, 176, 
177, 179, 234, 235, 236, 277, 
282, 335, 437. 

Waters, Colonel Josiah, 118. 
Watkins, Walter Kendall, 445. 
Watson, Brook, 204. 

Watson, Elkanah, 207. 

Watson, Rev. John Lee, 122. 
Webster, Daniel, 443. 

Welles, Samuel, 405. 

Wendell, Judge Oliver, 411. 
Wentworth, Governor John, 199, 
201 . 

West, Benjamin, 193, 198, 208. 
Wheatley, John, 314. 

Wheatley, Phillis, 314-322. 
Wheeler, Mrs. E. Corinna, 119. 
Whitefield, Rev. George, 315 
316. 

Whitman, Elizabeth, 436. 
Wilkes, John, 288. 

Willard, Councillor, 145. 

Willis, Nathaniel, 328. 
Winthrop, Hannah, 25, 324. 
Winthrop, Mrs. Thomas Lindall. 
402. 

Witherspoon, John, 257. 
Wolcott, Captain Giles, 183. 
Woodworth, Samuel, 439. 

























library of congress 



